Author: Carl Stalhood

Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) – NetScaler 11.1

Last Modified: Nov 7, 2020 @ 6:34 am

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GSLB Planning

GSLB is nothing more than DNS. GSLB is not in the data path. GSLB receives a DNS query, and GSLB sends back an IP address, which is exactly how a DNS server works. The user then connects to the returned IP, which doesn’t even need to be on a NetScaler.

GSLB can do some things that DNS servers can’t do:

  • Don’t give out an IP address unless it is UP (monitoring)
    • If the active IP address is down, then give out the passive IP address (active/passive)
  • Give out the IP address that is closest to the user (proximity load balancing)
  • Give out different IPs for internal users vs external users (DNS View)

GSLB is only useful if you have a single DNS name that could resolve to two or more IP addresses. If there’s only one IP address, then use normal DNS instead.

Citrix Blog Post Global Server Load Balancing: Part 1 explains how DNS queries work and how GSLB fits in.

Citrix has a good DNS and GSLB Primer.

When configuring GSLB, don’t forget to ask “where is the data?”. For XenApp/XenDesktop, DFS multi-master replication of user profiles is not supported, so configure “home” sites for users. More information at Citrix Blog Post XenDesktop, GSLB & DR – Everything you think you know is probably wrong!

GSLB Configuration Overview

GSLB Configuration can be split between one-time steps for GSLB infrastructure, and repeatable steps for each GSLB-enabled DNS name.

One-time GSLB Infrastructure configuration

  1. Create ADNS listener on each NetScaler pair – DNS clients send DNS queries to the ADNS listeners. GSLB resolves a DNS query into an IP address, and returns the IP address in the DNS response.
  2. Create GSLB Sites (aka MEP Listener) – GSLB Sites usually correspond to different datacenters. GSLB Sites are also the IP address endpoints for NetScaler’s proprietary Metric Exchange Protocol (MEP), which is used by GSLB to transmit proximity, persistence, and monitoring information.
  3. Import Static Proximity Database – NetScaler includes a database that can be used to determine the geographical location of an IP address. Or you can subscribe to a geolocation service, and import its database.
  4. Delegate DNS sub-zone to NetScaler ADNS – in the original DNS zone, create a new sub-zone (e.g. gslb.company.com), and delegate the sub-zone to all ADNS listeners.

Repeatable GSLB Configuration for each DNS name:

  1. Create one or more GSLB Services per DNS name, and per IP address response – each GSLB Service corresponds to a single IP address that can be returned in response to a DNS Query.
    • Optionally, bind a Monitor to each GSLB Service. Monitors determine if the GSLB Service is up or not.
  2. Create a GSLB Virtual Server per DNS name
    • Bind a DNS name to the GSLB Virtual Server.
    • For active/active – bind multiple GSLB Services to the GSLB Virtual Server, configure a load balancing method (e.g. proximity), and configure site persistence.
    • For active/passive – bind the active GSLB Service. Create another GSLB Virtual Server with passive GSLB Service, and configure as Backup Virtual Server.
  3. Create CNAME records for each delegated DNS name – in the main DNS zone, create a CNAME that maps the original DNS name to the delegated sub-zone. For example, CNAME citrix.company.com to citrix.gslb.company.com.

You will create separate GSLB Services, separate GSLB Virtual Servers, and separate CNAMEs for each DNS name. If you have a bunch of DNS names that you want to GSLB-enable, then you’ll repeat these steps for each GSLB-enabled DNS name.

Each datacenter has a separate ADNS listener IP address. DNS is delegated to all GSLB ADNS Listener IPs, and any one of them can respond to the DNS query. Thus, all NetScaler pairs participating in GSLB should have the same Per-DNS name configuration.

One NetScaler appliance for both public DNS/GSLB and internal DNS/GSLB?

GSLB can be enabled both publically and internally. For public GSLB, configure it on DMZ NetScaler appliances, and expose the DNS listener to the Internet. For internal GSLB, configure it on separate internal NetScaler appliances/instances, and create an internal DNS listener.

Each NetScaler appliance only has one DNS table, so if you try to use the same NetScaler for both public DNS and internal DNS, then be aware that external users can query for internal GSLB-enabled DNS names. As described by Phil Bossman in the comments, you can use a Responder policy to prevent external users from reading internal DNS names.

add policy patset GSLB_INTERNAL
bind policy patset GSLB_INTERNAL internalHostname.gslb.domain.com -index 1
add responder action DNS_Empty_Response respondwith DNS.NEW_RESPONSE
add responder policy GSLB_DNS_Empty_Response "(!(CLIENT.IP.SRC.IN_SUBNET(10.0.0.0/8)||CLIENT.IP.SRC.IN_SUBNET(192.0.0.0/16)||CLIENT.IP.SRC.IN_SUBNET(172.0.0.0/12)) && DNS.REQ.QUESTION.DOMAIN.CONTAINS_ANY(\"GSLB_INTERNAL\"))" DNS_Empty_Response
bind responder global GSLB_DNS_Empty_Response 100 END -type DNS_REQ_DEFAULT

One appliance resolving a single DNS name differently for internal and public

Let’s say you have a single DNS name citrix.company.com. When somebody external resolves the name, it should resolve to a public IP. When somebody internal resolves the name, it should resolve to an internal IP.

For internal GSLB and external GSLB of the same DNS name on the same NetScaler appliance, you can use DNS Policies and DNS Views to return different IP addresses depending on where users are connecting from. See Citrix CTX130163 How to Configure a GSLB Setup for Internal and External Users Using the Same Host Name.

If the Internet circuit in the remote datacenter goes down, then this should affect public DNS, since you don’t want to give out a public IP that isn’t reachable. But do you also want an Internet outage to affect internal DNS? Probably not. In that case, you would need different GSLB monitoring configurations for internal DNS and external DNS. However, if you have only a single GSLB Virtual Server with DNS Views, then you can’t configure different monitoring configurations for each DNS View.

To work around this limitation, create two separate GSLB Virtual Servers with different monitoring configurations. Internal DNS uses a CNAME record to reach the GSLB Virtual Server configured for internal monitoring:

  • External citrix.company.com:
    • Configure NetScaler GSLB for citrix.company.com.
    • On public DNS, delegate citrix.company.com to the NetScaler DMZ ADNS services.
  • Internal citrix.company.com:
    • Configure NetScaler GSLB for citrixinternal.company.com or something like that.
    • On internal DNS, create CNAME for citrix.company.com to citrixinternal.company.com
    • On internal DNS, delegate citrixinternal.company.com to NetScaler internal ADNS services.

Remote Internet Monitoring

For public DNS/GSLB, you don’t want to give out a remote public IP address if that remote public IP address is not reachable. That means the local NetScaler will need to somehow determine if the remote datacenter has Internet connectivity or not. Here are some methods of verifying the remote Internet connection:

  • Route GSLB Metric Exchange Protocol (MEP) across the Internet. If MEP goes down, then all IP addresses associated with the remote GSLB Site are assumed to be down, and thus the local NetScaler will stop giving out those remote IP addresses.
  • Bind explicit monitors to each GSLB Service, and ensure the monitoring is routed across the Internet.

GSLB IP Addresses

GSLB is separate from data traffic. The GSLB IP addresses are separate from the IP addresses needed for data.

Some GSLB-specific IP Addresses are needed on each NetScaler pair:

  • ADNS Listener IP: A NetScaler IP that listens for DNS queries.
    • The ADNS listener IP is typically an existing SNIP on the appliance.
    • For external DNS, create a public IP for the ADNS Listener IP, and open UDP 53, so Internet-based DNS servers can access it.
    • A single NetScaler appliance can have multiple ADNS listeners – typically one ADNS listener for public, and another ADNS listener for internal.
  • GSLB Site IP / MEP listener IP: A NetScaler IP that will be used for NetScaler-to-NetScaler GSLB communication. This communication is called MEP or Metric Exchange Protocol. MEP transmits the following between GSLB-enabled NetScaler pairs: load balancing metrics, proximity, persistence, and monitoring.
    • GSLB Sites – On NetScaler, you create GSLB Sites. GSLB Sites are the endpoints for the MEP communication. Each NetScaler pair is configured with the MEP endpoints for the local appliance pair, and all remote appliance pairs.
    • TCP Ports – MEP uses port TCP 3009 or TCP 3011 between the NetScaler pairs. TCP 3009 is encrypted.
    • The ADNS IP address can be used as the MEP endpoint IP.
    • MEP endpoint can be any IP – The MEP endpoint IP address can be any IP address and does not need to be a SNIP or ADNS.
    • One MEP IP per appliance – there can only be one MEP endpoint IP address on each NetScaler pair.
    • Route MEP across Internet? – If you route MEP across the Internet, and if the MEP connection is interrupted, then Internet at one of the locations is probably not working. This is an easy way to determine if remote Internet is up or not. If you don’t route MEP across the Internet, then you’ll need to configure every remote-site GSLB Service with a monitor to ensure that the remote Internet is up.
      • Public IPs for MEP Enpoints – if you route MEP across the Internet, then you’ll need public IPs for each publically-accessible MEP endpoint IP address.
      • Public Port for MEP: Open port TCP 3009 between the MEP Public IPs. Make sure only the MEP IPs can access this port on the other NetScaler. Do not allow any other device on the Internet to access this port. Port 3009 is encrypted.
    • GSLB Sync Ports: To use GSLB Configuration Sync, open ports TCP 22 and TCP 3008 (secure) from the NSIP (management IP) to the remote public MEP IP. The GSLB Sync command runs a script in BSD shell and thus NSIP is always the Source IP.
  • Public IP Summary: In summary, for public GSLB, if MEP and ADNS are listening on the same IP, then you need one new public IP that is NAT’d to the DMZ IP that is used for ADNS and MEP (GSLB Site IP).
    • Each datacenter has a separate public IP.
    • DNS is delegated to all public ADNS IP listeners.

ADNS Listener

  1. At System > Network > IPs, identify a NetScaler-owned IP that you will use as the ADNS listener. This is typically a SNIP.
  2. Create a public IP for the ADNS Service IP, and configure firewall rules.
  3. On the left, expand Traffic Management > Load Balancing, and click Services.
  4. On the right, click Add.
  5. In the Basic Settings section, do the following:
    1. Name the service ADNS or similar.
    2. In the IP Address field, enter an appliance SNIP.
    3. In the Protocol drop-down field, select ADNS.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Scroll down and click Done, to close the Load Balancing Service properties.
  8. On the left of the console, expand System, expand Network, and then click IPs.
  9. On the right, you’ll see the SNIP is now marked as the ADNS svc IP.
  10. Repeat ADNS configuration on the other appliance pair in the other datacenter.
  11. Your NetScaler appliances are now DNS servers.

DNS Security

  1. NetScaler 11.1 build 51 and newer includes DNS Security Options at Security > DNS Security, which can protect your ADNS service.
  2. To protect ADNS, set the Profile to All DNS Endpoints.

Metric Exchange Protocol

This section details MEP configuration between two GSLB Sites. See Citrix Docs for larger Parent-Child Topology Deployment using the MEP Protocol, including new features in NetScaler 11.1 build 51 and newer.

GSLB Sites

  1. The local GSLB Site IP can be any IP. Or you can use the same SNIP, and same public IP, used for ADNS.
  2. Open the firewall rules for Metric Exchange Protocol.
  3. On the left, expand Traffic Management, right-click GSLB, and enable the feature.
  4. Expand GSLB, and click Sites.
  5. On the right, click Add.
  6. In the Create GSLB Site page, do the following:
    1. We’re adding the local site first. Enter a descriptive name for the local site.
    2. In the Site Type drop-down, select LOCAL.
    3. In the Site IP Address field, enter an IP that this appliance will listen for MEP traffic. This is typically a DMZ SNIP.
    4. For Internet-routed GSLB MEP, in the Public IP Address field, enter the public IP that is NAT’d to the GSLB Site IP.
    5. For internal GSLB MEP, there is no need to enter anything in the Public IP field.
  7. Scroll down, and click Create, to close the Create GSLB Site page.
  8. Go back to System > Network > IPs, and verify that the IP is now marked as a GSLB site IP.
  9. If you want to use the GSLB Sync Config feature, then you’ll need to edit the GSLB site IP, and enable Management Access.

    1. Scroll down, and enable Management Access. SSH is all you need.
  10. Go to the other appliance pair,and also create the Local GSLB site using its GSLB site IP, and its public IP that is NAT’d to the GSLB site IP.
    1. In System > Network > IPs on the remote appliance, there should now be a GSLB site IP. This could be a SNIP. If GSLB Sync is desired, enable management access on that IP and ensure SSH is enabled.
  11. Now on each appliance add another GSLB Site, which will be the Remote GSLB site.
  12. In the Create GSLB Site page, do the following:
    1. Enter a descriptive name for the remote site.
    2. Select REMOTE as the Site Type.
    3. Enter the other appliance’s actual GSLB Site IP as configured on the appliance. This IP does not need to be reachable.
    4. In the Public IP Address field, enter the public IP that is NAT’d to the GSLB Site IP on the other appliance. For MEP, TCP 3009 must be open from the local GSLB Site IP, to the remote public Site IP. For GSLB sync, TCP 22, and TCP 3008, must be open from the local NSIP, to the remote public Site IP.
  13. Click Create.
  14. Repeat on the other appliance.

RPC

MEP defaults to unencrypted on TCP 3011. To fix that:

  1. On the left, expand System, expand Network, and click RPC.
  2. On the right, right-click the new RPC address (the other site’s GSLB Site IP), and click Edit.
  3. On the bottom, check the box next to Secure.

    1. If your local GSLB Site IP is not a SNIP, then you’ll need to change the RPC Node to use the local GSLB Site IP as the source IP. In the Source IP Address field, enter the local GSLB Site IP.
  4. Click OK when done.
  5. Do the same thing on the other appliance.
  6. If you go back to GSLB > Sites, you should see it as active.

If your MEP connection between GSLB Sites flaps, it might be useful to introduce a delay before remote GSLB Services are marked as Down. In NetScaler 11.1 build 51 and newer:

  1. you can do this at Traffic Management > GSLB, on the right, in the left column, click Change GSLB settings.
  2. In the GSLB Service State Delay Time (secs) field, enter a delay before the GSLB Services are marked as down when MEP goes down.

    set gslb parameter -GSLBSvcStateDelayTime 15

Static Proximity Geo Location Database

If you want to use DNS Policies or Static Proximity GSLB Load Balancing or Responders based on user’s location, import a geo location database.

NetScaler has a built-in database at /var/netscaler/inbuilt_db/ that you can use. Or you can download a database. Common free databases are:

For IP2Location, see the blog post Add IP2Location Database as NetScaler’s Location File for instructions on how to import.

Import Built-in Geo database

  1. In the NetScaler GUI, on the left, expand Traffic Management, expand GSLB, expand Location, and click Static Databases.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Change the Import From selection to File.
  4. Click Choose File.
  5. Browse to /var/netscaler/inbuilt_db/, and open Citrix_NetScaler_InBuilt_GeoIP_DB.csv. To browse to the directory, select var, and then click Open. Repeat for each directory until you reach /var/netscaler/inbuilt_db.
  6. In the Location Format field, if using the built-in database, select netscaler, and click Create.
  7. When you open a GSLB Service, the public IP will be translated to a location.

Private IP Blocks

Geo Location databases only contain entries for Public IPs. For Private IPs, do the following:

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, expand GSLB, expand Location, and click Custom Entries.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter a range of IP addresses for a particular location.
  4. Enter a Location Name in Geo Location format, which is typically six location words separated by periods. You can look in the static proximity database for examples.
  5. Click Create.
  6. Continue creating Custom Entries for other private IP blocks.

Use Geo Locations

You can use the Geo locations in a DNS Policy, static proximity GSLB Load Balancing, or Responders:

GSLB Services

GSLB Services represent the IP addresses that are returned in DNS Responses. The IP addresses represented by GSLB Services do not need to be on a NetScaler, but NetScaler-owned IP addresses (e.g. load balancing VIPs) have additional GSLB Site Persistence options (e.g. cookie-based persistence).

  • Each potential IP address in a DNS response is a separate GSLB Service.
  • GSLB Services are associated with GSLB Sites.
  • GSLB Service configuration is identical for active/active and active/passive. GSLB Virtual Server define active/active or active/passive, not GSLB Services.

GSLB should be configured identically on all NetScaler pairs that are responding to DNS queries. Since you have no control over which NetScaler will receive the DNS query, you must ensure that both NetScaler pairs are giving out the same DNS responses.

To create a GSLB Service:

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management > GSLB, and click Services.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. The service name should be similar to the DNS name that you are trying to GSLB. Include the site name in the service name.
  4. Select one of the GSLB Sites. The IP address you’re configuring in this GSLB Service should be geographically located in the selected GSLB Site.
  5. On the bottom part, if the IP address is owned by this NetScaler (Local Site), then select Virtual Servers, and select a Virtual Server that is already defined on this appliance. It should automatically fill in the other fields. If you see a message asking if you wish to create a service object, click Yes. This option is only available when creating a GSLB Service in the Local GSLB Site.

      1. If the IP address is not owned by this NetScaler, then change the selection to New Server, and enter the remote IP address in the Server IP field.
      2. The Server IP field is the IP address that NetScaler will monitor for reachability.
      3. If the remote IP is owned by a different NetScaler that is reachable by MEP, then enter the actual VIP configured on that remote NetScaler. The Server IP does not need to match what is returned to the DNS Query.
  6. In the Public IP field, enter the IP address that will be returned to the DNS Query. If you leave Public IP blank, then NetScaler will copy the Server IP to the Public IP field. For Public GSLB, the Public IP field is usually a Public IP address. For internal GSLB, the Public IP field is usually an internal IP, and probably matches the Server IP.
  7. Scroll up and make sure the Service Type is SSL. It’s annoying that NetScaler doesn’t set this drop-down correctly.
  8. Scroll down and click OK to close the Basic Settings section.
  9. GSLB Service Monitoring – on the right, in the Advanced Settings column, you can click Monitors to bind a monitor to this GSLB Service. Review the following notes before you bind a monitor.

    • Local NetScaler VIP – If the GSLB Service IP is a VIP on the local appliance, then GSLB will simply use the state of the local traffic Virtual Server (Load Balancing, Content Switching, or Gateway). There’s no need to bind a monitor to the GSLB Service.
    • Remote NetScaler VIP – If the GSLB Service IP is a VIP on a remote appliance, then GSLB will use MEP to ask the other appliance for the state of the remote traffic Virtual Server. In both cases. There’s no need to bind a monitor to the GSLB Service.
    • GSLB Monitor overrides other Monitoring methods – If you bind a monitor to the GSLB Service, then MEP and local Virtual Server state are ignored (overridden).
    • Here are some reasons for binding a monitor to the GSLB Service:
      • IP is not on a NetScaler – If the GSLB Service IP is not hosted on a NetScaler, then only GSLB Service monitors can determine if the Service IP is up or not.
      • Monitor remote Internet – For Public DNS, if MEP is not routed through the Internet, then you need some method of determining if the remote Internet circuit is up or not. In that case, you’ll need to bind monitors directly to the GSLB Service. The route of the Monitor should go across the Internet. Or you can ping the Internet router in the remote datacenter to make sure it’s reachable.
      • Traffic Domains – If the GSLB Service IP is in a non-default Traffic Domain, then you will need to attach a monitor, since GSLB cannot determine the state of Virtual Servers in non-default Traffic Domains.
  10. Active/Active Site Persistence – If you intend to do GSLB active/active, and if you need site persistence, then you can configure your GSLB Services to use Connection Proxy or HTTP Redirect. See Citrix Blog Post Troubleshooting GSLB Persistence with Fiddler for more details. This only works with GSLB Service IPs that match Virtual Server VIPs on NetScaler appliances reachable through MEP.
  11. Scroll down, and click Done, to finish creating the GSLB Service.
  12. Create additional GSLB Services for each IP address that will be returned to a DNS query.

Manually Synchronize GSLB Configuration

Copy the GSLB Service Configuration to the remote NetScaler pair. You can either repeat the GUI steps listed above. Or you can do the following:

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management, and click GSLB.
  2. On the right, click View GSLB Configuration.
  3. This shows you all of the CLI commands for GSLB. Look for add gslb service commands. You can copy them, and run them (SSH) on other NetScaler pairs that are participating in GSLB.

GSLB Virtual Server

The GSLB Virtual Server is the entity that the DNS name is bound to. GSLB Virtual Server then gives out the IP address of one of the GSLB Services that is bound to it.

For Active/Passive GSLB:

  1. Create a GSLB Virtual Server for the Passive IP address.
    1. Bind the Passive GSLB Service to the Passive GSLB Virtual Server.
  2. Create another GSLB Virtual Server for the Active IP address.
    1. Bind the Active GSLB Service to the Active GSLB Virtual Server.
    2. Configure Backup Virtual Server pointing to the Passive GSLB Virtual Server.
    3. Bind a DNS name to the Active GSLB Virtual Server.
  3. Repeat the GSLB Virtual Server configuration on other NetScaler pairs participating in GSLB.
  4. Delegate the DNS name to NetScaler ADNS.

For Active/Active GSLB:

  1. Create one GSLB Virtual Server.
    1. Bind two or more GSLB Services to the Virtual Server.
    2. Configure the GSLB Virtual Server Load Balancing Method – e.g. Proximity
    3. Configure Site Persistence:
      1. Source IP persistence is configured on the GSLB Virtual Server.
      2. Cookie Persistence is configured on the GSLB Services.
    4. Bind a DNS name to the GSLB Virtual Server.
  2. Repeat the GSLB Virtual Server configuration on other NetScaler pairs participating in GSLB.
  3. Delegate the DNS name to NetScaler ADNS.

Configure the GSLB vServer identically on both appliances:

  1. On the left, expand Traffic Management > GLSB, and click Virtual Servers.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the GSLB vServer a descriptive name. For active/active, you can name it the same as your DNS name. For active/passive, you will create two GSLB Virtual Servers, one for each datacenter, so include Active or Passive in the Virtual Server name.
  4. If you intend to bind multiple GSLB Services to this GSLB vServer, then you can optionally check the box for Send all “active” service IPs. By default, GSLB only gives out one IP per DNS query. This checkbox always returns all IPs, but the IPs are ordered based on the GSLB Load Balancing Method and/or GSLB Persistence.
  5. If you configure GSLB to use Static Proximity Load Balancing Method, a new DNS feature called ECS will contain the actual DNS client IP. This dramatically improves the accuracy of determining a user’s location. Without this setting, GSLB can only see the IP address of the user’s configured DNS server instead of the real client IP.

    set gslb vserver <gslb_vserver> -ECS ENABLED -ecsAddrValidation ENABLED
  6. Click OK.
  7. On the left, click where it says No GSLB Virtual Server to GSLBService Binding.
  8. Click the arrow next to Click to select.
  9. Check the box next to an existing GSLB Service and click Select. If your GSLB is active/passive then only bind one service.
  10. If your GSLB is active/active then bind multiple GSLB Services. Also, you’d probably need to configure GSLB persistence (Source IP or cookies).
  11. Click Bind.
  12. Click OK.
  13. On the left, click where it says No GSLB Virtual Server Domain Binding.
  14. Enter the FQDN that GSLB will resolve.
  15. If this GSLB is active/passive, there are two options:
    • Use the Backup IP field to specify the IP address that will be handed out if the primary NetScaler is inaccessible or if the VIP on the primary appliance is marked down for any reason.
    • Or, create a second GSLB Virtual Server that has the passive GSLB service bound to it. Don’t bind a Domain to the second GSLB Virtual Server. Then edit the Active GSLB Virtual Server and use the Backup Virtual Server section to select the second GSLB Virtual Server.
  16. Click Bind.
  17. Click OK.
  18. In the ADNS Service section, click OK.
  19. If this is active/active GSLB, you can edit the Method section to enable Static Proximity. This assumes the Geo Location database has already been installed on the appliance.
  20. Also for active/active, if you don’t want to use Cookie-based persistence, then you can use the Persistence section to configure Source IP persistence.
  21. Click Done when done.
  22. If you are configuring active/passive using the backup GSLB Virtual Server method, create a second GSLB Virtual Server that has the passive GSLB service bound to it. Don’t bind a Domain to the second GSLB Virtual Server.

  23. Then edit the Active GSLB Virtual Server and use the Backup Virtual Server section to select the second GSLB Virtual Server.


  24. On the left, if you expand Traffic Management > DNS, expand Records, and click Address Records, you’ll see a new DNS record for the GSLB domain you just configured. Notice it is marked as GSLB DOMAIN.

  25. Configure identical GSLB Virtual Servers on the other NetScaler appliance. Both NetScalers must be configured identically. You can also synchronize the GSLB configuration with the remote appliance as detailed in the next section.

GSLB Configuration Synchronization

  1. To manually sync the GSLB configuration from one GSLB Site to another, go to Traffic Management > GSLB.
  2. On the right, in the right column, click Synchronize configuration on remote sites.
  3. Use the check boxes on the top, if desired. It’s usually a good idea to Preview the changes before applying them. Then click OK to begin synchronization.

  4. NetScaler 11.1 build 51 and newer has an automatic GSLB Configuration Sync feature, which automatically syncs the GSLB config every 15 seconds. To enable it on the master appliance, go to Traffic Management > GSLB. On the right, in the left column, click Change GSLB settings.
  5. Check the box next to Automatic Config Sync. Only enable this on the one appliance where you are configuring GSLB and want that GSLB config synced to other appliance.
  6. The automatic sync log can be found at /var/netscaler/gslb/periodic_sync.log.

Some notes regarding GSLB Sync:

  • When syncing GSLB Services, it tries to create LB Server objects on the remote appliance. If the GSLB Service IP matches an existing LB Server object, then the GSLB sync will fail. Check the Sync logs for details. You’ll have to delete the conflicting LB Server object before GSLB Sync works correctly.
  • GSLB Sync runs as a script on the BSD shell and thus always uses the NSIP as the source IP.
  • GSLB Sync connects to the remote GSLB Site IP on TCP 3008 (if RPC is Secure) and TCP 22.

Test GSLB

  1. In NetScaler 11.1 build 51 and newer, you can test GSLB DNS name resolution from the GUI by going to Traffic Management > GSLB, and on the right, in the left column, click Test GSLB.
  2. Select a GSLB Domain Name.
  3. Select an ADNS Service IP, and click Test.
  4. The test performs a dig against the ADNS IP. Verify that the response contains the IP address you expected.
  5. Another method of testing GSLB is to simply point nslookup to the ADNS services, and submit a DNS query for one of the DNS names bound to a GSLB vServer. Run the query multiple times to make sure you’re getting the response you expect.
  6. The NetScaler ADNS services at both GSLB sites should be giving the same response.
  7. To simulate a failure, disable the traffic Virtual Server.
  8. Then the responses should change. Verify on both ADNS services.

  9. Re-enable the traffic Virtual Server, and the responses should return to normal.


DNS Delegation

If you are enabling GSLB for the domain gateway.corp.com, you’ll need to create a delegation at the server that is hosting the corp.com DNS zone. For public GSLB, you need to edit the public DNS zone for corp.com.

DNS Delegation instructions will vary depending on what product host’s the public DNS zone. This section details Microsoft DNS, but it should be similar in BIND or web-based DNS products.

There are two ways to delegate GSLB-enabled DNS names to NetScaler ADNS:

  • Delegate the individual record. For example, delegate gateway.corp.com to the two NetScaler ADNS services (gslb1.corp.com and gslb2.corp.com).
  • Delegate an entire subzone. For example, delegate the subzone gslb.corp.com to the two NetScaler ADNS services. Then create a CNAME record in the parent DNS zone for gateway.corp.com that is aliased to gateway.gslb.corp.com. When DNS queries make it to NetScaler, they will be for gateway.gslb.corp.com and thus gateway.gslb.corp.com needs to be bound to the GSLB Virtual Server instead of gateway.corp.com. For additional delegations, simply create more CNAME records.

This section covers the first method – delegating an individual DNS record:

  1. Run DNS Manager.
  2. First, create Host Records pointing to the ADNS services running on the NetScalers in each data center. These host records for ADNS are used for all GSLB delegations no matter how many GSLB delegations you need to create.
  3. The first Host record is gslb1 (or similar) and should point to the ADNS service (Public IP) on one of the NetScaler appliances.
  4. The second Host record is gslb2 and should point to the ADNS Service (public IP) on the other NetScaler appliance.
  5. If you currently have a host record for the service that you are delegating to GSLB (gateway.corp.com), delete it.
  6. Right-click the parent DNS zone and click New Delegation.
  7. In the Welcome to the New Delegation Wizard page, click Next.
  8. In the Delegated Domain Name page, enter the left part of the DNS record that you are delegating (e.g. gateway). Click Next.
  9. In the Name Servers page, click Add.
  10. This is where you specify gslb1.corp.com and gslb2.corp.com. Enter gslb1.corp.com and click Resolve. Then click OK. If you see a message about the server not being authoritative for the zone, ignore the message.
  11. Then click Add to add the other GSLB ADNS server.
  12. Once both ADNS servers are added to the list, click Next.
  13. In the Completing the New Delegation Wizard page, click Finish.
  14. If you run nslookup against your Microsoft DNS server, it will respond with Non-authoritative answer. That’s because it got the response from NetScaler and not from itself.

That’s all there is to it. Your NetScalers are now DNS servers. For active/passive, the NetScalers will hand out the public IP address of the primary data center. When the primary data center is not accessible, GSLB will hand out the GSLB Service IP bound to the Backup GSLB vServer.

Geo Location Database

If you want to use DNS Policies or Static Proximity GSLB Load Balancing or Responders based on user’s location, import a geo location database.

NetScaler has a built-in database at /var/netscaler/inbuilt_db/ that you can use. Or you can download a database. Common free databases are:

For IP2Location, see the blog post Add IP2Location Database as NetScaler’s Location File for instructions on how to import.

To Download GeoLite Legacy:

  1. Download the GeoLite Country database CSV from http://dev.maxmind.com/geoip/legacy/geolite/.
  2. Note: GeoLite City is actually two files that must be merged as detailed at Citrix Blog Post GeoLite City as NetScaler location database. GeoLite Country doesn’t need any preparation.
  3. Upload the extracted database (.csv file) to the NetScaler appliance at /var/netscaler/locdb.

To import the Geo database (including the built-in database):

  1. In the NetScaler GUI, on the left, expand Traffic Management, expand GSLB, expand Location, and click Static Databases.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Change the Import From selection to File.
  4. Click Choose File.
  5. For the built-in database, browse to /var/netscaler/inbuilt_db/ and open Citrix_NetScaler_InBuilt_GeoIP_DB.csv. To browse to the directory, select var and then click Open. Repeat for each directory until you reach /var/netscaler/inbuilt_db.
  6. Or browse to the Geo Location database file you uploaded and open it.
  7. In the Location Format field, if using the built-in database, select netscaler, and click Create.
  8. If using GeoLite Country, select geoip-country and click Create.
  9. When you open a GSLB Service, the public IP will be translated to a location.

You can use the Geo locations in a DNS Policy, static proximity GSLB Load Balancing, or Responders:

nFactor Authentication for NetScaler Gateway 11

Last Modified: Sep 15, 2018 @ 9:02 am

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Overview

nFactor lets you configure an unlimited number of authentication factors. You are no longer limited to just two factors. Each authentication factor performs the following tasks:

  • nFactor requests credentials from the user. These credentials can be anything supported by NetScaler including:
    • SAML
    • Certificate
    • oAuth
    • Kerberos
    • Forms-based authentication (traditional web-based logon page) for LDAP, RADIUS, etc.
      • Multiple passwords can be collected with one form.
      • Or prompt the user multiple times throughout the authentication chain.
      • The logon page can contain a domain drop-down.
  • nFactor evaluates the credentials. The results can be:
    • Authentication success
    • Authentication failure
    • Group extraction
    • Attribute extraction from SAML, Certificate, etc.
  • Based on the evaluation results, do one of the following:
    • Allow access
    • Use authentication evaluation results to select next factor
    • Deny access
  • Multiple factor evaluations can be chained together. The chosen next factor is based on the results of the prior factor. This can continue indefinitely. The next factor can do one of the following:
    • Prompt the user for more credentials
    • Evaluate the already entered next set of credentials
    • Use policy expression to select another next factor (no authentication). This is typically used with group extraction so that groups determine the next factor.

Here are some nFactor use cases, but the combinations are almost limitless:

  • Authentication method based on Active Directory group: Logon screen asks for user name only. Extract user’s groups from Active Directory. Based on user’s Active Directory groups, either ask user for certificate, or ask user for LDAP password. If LDAP, the username doesn’t need to be entered again.
  • Ask for Certificate first:
    • If certificate, perform LDAP
    • If no certificate, perform LDAP + RADIUS
  • Two-factor with passwords checked in specific order: Logon screen with two password fields. Check the first password. If the first password succeeds, then check the second password. This lets you check RADIUS before LDAP.

In NetScaler 11.0 build 62 and newer, you can configure nFactor on AAA authentication servers.

In NetScaler 11.0 build 66 and newer, you can configure nFactor in the AAA feature and bind it to NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers. Thus NetScaler Enterprise Edition is required.

  • Note: nFactor works with browser clients, but it does not work with Receiver Self-Service (native Receiver).

nFactor configuration summary (detailed instructions below):

  • The first factor (Advanced Authentication Policy and Login Schema) is bound directly to a AAA Virtual Server.
  • Next factors are Authentication Policy Labels that are chained to Advanced Authentication Policies in prior factors.
  • Authentication Profile links AAA nFactor with NetScaler Gateway.

AAA Virtual Server

Create AAA Virtual Server

To use nFactor with NetScaler Gateway, you first configure it on a AAA Virtual Server. Then you later bind the AAA Virtual Server to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.

  1. If AAA feature is not already enabled, go to Security > AAA, right-click AAA and Enable Feature.
  2. Go to Security > AAA > Virtual Servers.
  3. On the right, click Add.
  4. Give the Virtual Server a name.
  5. If you are only using this AAA Virtual Server for NetScaler Gateway, then you can change the IP address Type to Non Addressable. It’s also possible to content switch to AAA.
  6. Enter an Authentication Domain and click OK.
  7. In the Certificates section, click where it says No Server Certificate.
  8. Click to select.
  9. Select a certificate for the AAA Virtual Server and click Select. Since this AAA Virtual Server is not directly addressable, the chosen certificate doesn’t matter.
  10. Click Bind.
  11. Click Continue.
  12. You probably don’t have any Advanced Authentication Policies yet so just click Continue.

AAA Portal Theme

If this AAA Virtual Server is used not just for NetScaler Gateway, but also for traffic management (Load Balancing, Content Switching), then you might want to change the AAA Portal theme.

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Portal Themes and add a theme.
  2. After adjusting it as desired, at the top of the portal theme editing page, Click to Bind and View Configured Theme.
  3. Change the selection to Authentication.
  4. Use the Authentication Virtual Server Name drop-down to select the AAA Virtual Server and click Bind and Preview.

Client Certificate Authentication

If one of your authentication Factors is certificate, then you must perform some SSL configuration on the AAA Virtual Server:

  1. Go to Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates and install the root certificate for the issuer of the client certificates. Root certificates do not have a key file.
  2. Go to Security > AAA > Virtual Servers and edit an existing AAA Virtual Server.
  3. On the left, in the SSL Parameters section, click the pencil icon.
  4. Check the box next to Client Authentication.
  5. Make sure Client Certificate drop-down is set to Optional, and click OK.
  6. On the left, in the Certificates section, click where it says No CA Certificate.
  7. Click to select.
  8. Select the root certificate for the issuer of the client certificates and click Select.
  9. Click Bind.

Login Schema

Login Schema XML File

Login Schema is an XML file providing the structure of forms-based authentication logon pages.

nFactor implies multiple authentication Factors that are chained together. Each Factor can have different Login Schema pages/files. In some authentication scenarios, users could be presented with multiple logon screens.

Or you can have one Factor gather information that can be passed on to later Factors so that the later Factors don’t need to display another Login Schema. This is particularly useful for traditional two-password logon screens (LDAP + RADIUS) since each password is evaluated in a separate Factor:

  • The first password is evaluated in the first factor (e.g. LDAP). If successful, then proceed to the second factor.
  • The second factor (e.g. RADIUS) evaluates the second password. However, the second password has already been entered so there’s no need to ask the user for it again. To prevent a Login Schema from being shown to the user, select noschema (LSCHEMA_INT) in the Authentication Policy Label.

Several Login Schema .xml files are included with NetScaler under /nsconfig/loginschema/LoginSchema. You can easily duplicate and modify these files. You can also download login schemas from support.citrix.com.

After duplicating one of the existing .xml files, you can edit it as desired. You can change the labels. Or you can configure fields to pre-fill information from previous Factors as shown below:

The login schema can also contain a domain drop-down. See CTX201760 nFactor – Domain Drop-Down in First Factor then Different Policy Evaluations Based on Groups for a sample configuration.

Login Schema Profile

To configure a Login Schema Profile:

  1. Create or Edit a Login Schema .XML file based on your nFactor design.
  2. Go to Security > AAA > Login Schema.
  3. On the right, switch to the Profiles tab and click Add.
  4. In the Authentication Schema field, click the pencil icon.
  5. Click the LoginSchema folder to see the files in it.
  6. Select one of the files. You can see a preview on the right. The labels can be changed by editing the file under /nsconfig/loginschema/LoginSchema/.
  7. On the top right, click Select.
  8. Give the Login Schema a name.
  9. You typically need to use the entered credentials elsewhere. For example, you might need to use the username and one of the passwords to later Single Sign-on to StoreFront. Near the bottom of the Login Schema Profile, enter unique values for the indexes. These values can be between 1 and 16.
  10. You can also configure these values on your noschema profiles so that passwords received from a previous factor can be put into a different Index.
  11. Later you reference these index values in a Traffic Policy/Profile by using the expression HTTP.REQ.USER.ATTRIBUTE(#).
  12. Click Create.
  13. Note: if you later edit the Login Schema .xml file, the changes might not be reflected until you edit the Login Schema Profile and select the .xml file again

Login Schema Policy

Login Schemas can be bound directly to a AAA Virtual Server. If one of the Advanced Authentication policies bound directly to the AAA Virtual Server is forms-based, then bind the Login Schema directly to the AAA Virtual Server. If you are binding the Login Schema directly to a AAA Virtual Server, then you must first create a Login Schema Policy expression that is linked to the Login Schema Profile.

Or Login Schemas can be bound to an Authentication Policy Label (described later). If you are binding a Login Schema to an Authentication Policy Label, then there’s no need to create a Login Schema policy expression.

To create and bind a Login Schema Policy:

  1. On the left, go to Security > AAA > Login Schema.
  2. On the right, switch to the Policies tab and click Add.
  3. Use the Profile drop-down to select the Login Schema Profile you already created.
  4. Enter a Default Syntax expression in the Rule box and click Create.
  5. On the left, go to Security > AAA > Virtual Servers and edit an existing AAA Virtual Server.
  6. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, click Login Schemas.
  7. On the left, in the Login Schemas section, click where it says No Login Schemas.
  8. Click to select.
  9. Select the Login Schema policy and click Select. Only Login Schema Policies appear in this list. Login Schema Profiles (without a policy) do not appear.
  10. Click Bind.

Advanced Authentication Policies

Authentication policies are a combination of policy expression and policy action. If the expression is true, then evaluate the action.

The Action is always an authentication server (LDAP, RADIUS, etc.).

The policy expression can be either in classic syntax, or in the newer default syntax.

The policy type is either Basic or Advanced. Basic policies can only use classic syntax. Advanced policies only use the newer default syntax. Both types of policies use the same Actions (authentication servers).

nFactor requires Advanced Authentication Policies; Basic policies won’t work.

Create Advanced Authentication Policy

You will need Authentication Actions/Servers (e.g. LDAP, RADIUS, CERT, SAML, etc.)

When creating an Advanced Authentication Policy, there’s a plus icon that lets you create Authentication Actions/Servers.

Or you can create Authentication Actions prior to creating the Advanced Authentication Policy. The Authentication Actions are located under the Security > AAA > Policies > Basic Policies > <Action Type> node. On the right, switch to the Servers tab to create the Actions/Servers. Once the Actions are created, use the instructions below to create the Advanced Authentication Policy. There’s no need to create a Basic Authentication Policy.

To create an Advanced Authentication Policy:

  1. Go to Security > AAA > Authentication > Advanced Policies > Policy.
  2. On the right, click Add. You typically create at least one Authentication Policy for each Factor. When you create multiple Authentication Policies for one Factor, NetScaler checks each policy in priority order until one of them succeeds.
  3. Use the Action Type drop-down to select the Action Type (e.g. LDAP). The Action Type depends on your nFactor flow design.
  4. If you don’t currently have any Actions configured, of if you want to create a new one, click the plus icon next to the Action drop-down. The Actions/Servers are created in the normal fashion.
  5. In the Expression box, enter an expression using the Default Syntax. ns_true won’t work because that’s Classic syntax. There’s an Expression Editor link on the right. Or hit Ctrl+Space to see your options. true is a valid Default expression. Click Create when done.
  6. Create more Advanced Authentication Policies as needed for your nFactor design.

Bind Advanced Authentication Policy to AAA

Only the Advanced Authentication Policies for the first Factor are bound directly to the AAA Virtual Server. The Advanced Authentication Policies for the remaining Factors are bound to Authentication Policy Labels as detailed in the next section.

  1. Go to Security > AAA > Virtual Servers.
  2. Edit an existing AAA Virtual Server.
  3. On the left, in the Advanced Authentication Policies section, click where it says No Authentication Policy.
  4. Click to select.
  5. Select the Advanced Authentication Policy and click Select.
  6. The Select Next Factor field can optionally point to an Authentication Policy Label as detailed in the next section. The Next Factor is only evaluated if this Advanced Authentication Policy succeeds.
  7. If this Advanced Authentication Policy fails, then the Goto Expression determines what happens next. If it is set to NEXT, then the next Advanced Authentication Policy bound to this Factor is evaluated. If it is set to END, of if there are no more Advanced Authentication Policies bound to this Factor, then authentication is finished and marked as failed.
  8. Click Bind.

LDAP Group Extraction

Sometimes you only want to extract a user’s groups from Active Directory but have don’t actually want to authenticate with LDAP. These groups can then be used to select the next authentication Factor.

To configure an LDAP Action/Server for only group extraction:

  1. Make sure Authentication is unchecked.
  2. Make sure the Group Attribute and Sub Attribute Name are filled in.

Authentication Policy Label

When configuring the first Factor, you bind two objects to the AAA Virtual Server:

  • Login schema – for forms-based authentication
  • Advanced Authentication Policy

When binding the Advanced Authentication Policy to the AAA Virtual Server, there’s a field to Select Next Factor. If the Advanced Authentication Policy succeeds, then the Next Factor is evaluated.

The Next Factor is actually an Authentication Policy Label.

Authentication Policy Labels contain three objects:

  • Login Schema
  • Advanced Authentication Policies
  • Next Factor – the next Authentication Policy Label

Here’s the flow:

  1. User connects to AAA or NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.
  2. If forms-based authentication, the Login Schema bound to the AAA Virtual Server is displayed.
  3. Advanced Authentication Policies bound to the AAA Virtual Server are evaluated.
    1. If the Advanced Authentication Policy is successful, go to the configured Next Factor, which is an Authentication Policy Label.
      1. If Next Factor is not configured, then authentication is complete and successful.
    2. If the Advanced Authentication Policy fails, and if Goto Expression is Next, then evaluate the next bound Advanced Authentication Policy.
    3. If none of the Advanced Authentication Policies are successful, then authentication failed.
  4. If the Next Factor Authentication Policy Label has a Login Schema bound to it, display it to the user.
  5. Evaluate the Advanced Authentication Policies bound to the Next Factor Authentication Policy Label.
    1. If the Advanced Authentication Policy is successful, go to the configured Next Factor, which is an Authentication Policy Label.
      1. If Next Factor is not configured, then authentication is complete and successful.
    2. If the Advanced Authentication Policy fails, and if Goto Expression is Next, then evaluate the next bound Advanced Authentication Policy.
    3. If none of the Advanced Authentication Policies are successful, then authentication failed.
  6. Continue evaluating the Next Factor Authentication Policy Label until authentication succeeds or fails. You can chain together an unlimited number of Authentication Policy Labels.

If you are binding a Login Schema to an Authentication Policy Label, then you only need the Login Schema Profile. There’s no need to create a Login Schema Policy.

Not every Factor needs a Login Schema (logon page). It’s possible for a prior Factor to gather all of the credential information and simply pass it on to the next Factor. If you don’t need a Login Schema for a particular Authentication Policy Label, simply select LSCHEMA_INT, which is mapped to noschema. Or create a new Login Schema Profile based on noschema.

Create Authentication Policy Label

To create an Authentication Policy Label:

  1. Authentication Policy Labels are configured at Security > AAA > Policies > Authentication > Advanced Policies > PolicyLabel.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the Policy Label a name.
  4. Select a Login Schema Profile. This can be one that is set to noschema if you don’t actually want to display anything to the user. Then click Continue.
  5. In the Policy Binding section, Click to select.
  6. Select an Advanced Authentication Policy that evaluates this Factor. Click Select.
  7. Use the Goto Expression drop-down to select NEXT or END. If you want to bind more Advanced Authentication Policies to this Factor, then select NEXT.
  8. In the Select Next Factor field, if you chain another Factor, Click to select and bind the next Authentication Policy Label (Next Factor).
  9. Or don’t select anything, and if this Advanced Authentication Policy succeeds, then authentication is successful and complete. This ends the chaining.
  10. Click Bind when done.
  11. You can click Add Binding to add more Advanced Authentication Policies to this Policy Label (Factor). Or you can bind Advanced Authentication Policies to the next Policy Label (Next Factor). Click Done.

Bind Authentication Policy Label

Once the Policy Label (Factor) is created, you bind it to an existing Advanced Authentication Policy binding. This is how you chain Factors together.

  1. Either edit an existing AAA Virtual Server that has an Advanced Authentication Policy already bound to it.
  2. Or edit a different Authentication Policy Label.
  3. On the left, in the Advanced Authentication Policies section, click the bindings.
  4. Right-click an existing binding and click Edit Binding.
  5. In the Select Next Factor field, Click to select.
  6. Select the Policy Label for the Next Factor and click Select.
  7. Click Bind.
  8. Click Done.

nFactor for NetScaler Gateway

AAA Authentication Profile

Authentication Profile lets you bind a AAA Virtual Server to NetScaler Gateway. This is what enables nFactor on NetScaler Gateway.

  1. Go to Security > AAA > Authentication Profile.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the Authentication Profile a name.
  4. In the Authentication Host field, it wants a URL to redirect users to your AAA Virtual Server. If you do this configuration from the CLI then this field is optional. But in the GUI it is required. NetScaler Gateway does not need to redirect so it doesn’t matter what you enter here.
  5. In the Authentication Virtual Server field, Click to select.
  6. Select the AAA Virtual Server that has Login Schema, Advanced Authentication Policy, and Authentication Policy Labels configured. The AAA Virtual Server does not need an IP address. Click Select.
  7. Then click Create.
  8. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Virtual Servers.
  9. On the right, edit an existing Gateway Virtual Server.
  10. In the Basic Settings section, click the pencil icon.
  11. Click More.
  12. Use the Authentication Profile drop-down to select the Authentication Profile you just created.
  13. If one of your Factors is client certificates, then you’ll need to configure SSL Parameters and CA certificate as detailed in the next section.
  14. When you browse to your Gateway, you’ll see the nFactor authentication screens.

Gateway Client Certificate Authentication

If one of your authentication Factors is certificate, then you must perform some SSL configuration on the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server:

  1. Go to Traffic Management > SSL > Certificates and install the root certificate for the issuer of the client certificates. Certificate Authority certificates do not need key files.
  2. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Virtual Servers, and edit an existing NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server that is enabled for nFactor.
  3. On the left, in the SSL Parameters section, click the pencil icon.
  4. Check the box next to Client Authentication.
  5. Make sure Client Certificate drop-down is set to Optional, and click OK.
  6. On the left, in the Certificates section, click where it says No CA Certificate.
  7. Click to select.
  8. Select the root certificate for the issuer of the client certificates and click Select.
  9. Click Bind.

nFactor Single Sign-on to StoreFront

When performing Single Sign-on to StoreFront, nFactor defaults to using the last entered password. If LDAP is not the last entered password, then you need to create a Traffic Policy/Profile to override the default nFactor behavior.

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Policies > Traffic.
  2. On the right, switch to the Traffic Profiles tab.
  3. Click Add.
  4. Give the Traffic Profile a name.
  5. In the Protocol section, select HTTP. Scroll down.
  6. In the SSO Expression fields, enter an HTTP.REQ.USER.ATTRIBUTE(#) expression that matches the indexes specified in the Login Schema.
  7. Click Create.
  8. On the right, switch to the Traffic Policies tab and click Add.
  9. Give the policy a name.
  10. Select the previously created Traffic Profile.
  11. Enter a classic expression (e.g. ns_true) and click Create.
  12. Edit an existing NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server.

  13. Scroll down to the Policies section and click the plus icon.
  14. Select Traffic > Request and click Continue.
  15. Select the previously created Traffic Policy.

  16. Bind the Traffic Policy.

Sample Configurations

From Citrix Docs: Sample deployments using nFactor authentication:

  • Getting two passwords up-front, pass-through in next factor. Read
  • Group extraction followed by certificate or LDAP authentication, based on group membership. Read
  • SAML followed by LDAP or certificate authentication, based on attributes extracted during SAML.Read
  • SAML in first factor, followed by group extraction, and then LDAP or certificate authentication, based on groups extracted. Read
  • Prefilling user name from certificate. Read
  • Certificate authentication followed by group extraction for 401 enabled traffic management virtual servers. Read
  • Username and 2 passwords with group extraction in third factor.Read
  • Certificate fallback to LDAP in same cascade; one virtual server for both certificate and LDAP authentication. Read
  • LDAP in first factor and WebAuth in second factor.Read
  • Domain drop down in first factor, then different policy evaluations based on group.Read

Certificate auth: If Successful, LDAP only. If Failure, LDAP+RADIUS

This scenario is described in Citrix Blog Post Configuration Notes on nFactor

The authentication process flows like this:

  1. User connects to NetScaler Gateway.
  2. NetScaler Gateway asks user for certificate.
  3. If user selects a certificate, NetScaler Gateway compares certificate signature to the CA certificate that is bound to the NetScaler Gateway. If it doesn’t match, then user certificate is ignored.
  4. Bound to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server is an Authentication Profile, which links NetScaler Gateway to AAA nFactor.
  5. Certificate authentication: The lowest priority number authentication policy on the AAA Virtual Server is Certificate. If there’s a valid user certificate:
    1. Extract the user’s userPrincipalName from the certificate.
    2. Next Factor = policy label that displays a logon screen (Single-factor Login Schema)
    3. The username field is pre-populated with the userPrincipalName attribute extracted from the certificate.
    4. User is prompted to enter the LDAP password only.
    5. LDAP policy/server is configured to use userPrincipalName to login to LDAP.
    6. If successful, NetScaler Gateway authentication is complete. Next step is to Single Sign-on to StoreFront.
    7. If LDAP authentication fails, then NetScaler Gateway authentication fails, and the user is prompted to try LDAP-only authentication again.
  6. LDAP authentication: If certificate authentication fails, try next authentication policy bound to the AAA Virtual Server, which is a different LDAP Policy.
    1. Bound to the AAA Virtual Server is a Dual Factor Login Schema that asks for username, LDAP password, and RADIUS password.
    2. LDAP policy/server is configured to use sAMAccountName to login to LDAP. SAMAccountName means users don’t have to enter full userPrincipalName.
    3. If LDAP authentication is successful:
      1. Put username in Credential Index 1 and put password in Credential Index 2. These will later be used by a Traffic Policy to Single Sign-on to StoreFront.
      2. Proceed to next factor (Policy Label), which is RADIUS.
    4. If LDAP authentication fails, NetScaler Gateway login fails, and the user is prompted to try two-factor authentication again.
  7. RADIUS authentication: the second factor Policy Label is configured with Noschema. This means no additional logon form is displayed because the RADIUS password was already collected in the previous factor.
    1. When multiple passwords are collected, they are tried in order. The first password was used by the previous factor. The second password is tried by this factor (Policy Label).
    2. RADIUS policy/profile attempts authentication.
    3. If RADIUS authentication is successful, NetScaler Gateway authentication is complete. Next step is Single Sign-on to StoreFront.
    4. If RADIUS authentication fails, NetScaler Gateway login fails, and the user is prompted to try two-factor authentication again.
  8. Single Sign-on to StoreFront: NetScaler Gateway uses the last password collected by nFactor to Single Sign-on with StoreFront. If the last password is LDAP, then no additional configuration is needed. If the last password is not LDAP, then a Traffic Policy/Profile is needed.
    1. Bound to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server is a Traffic Policy.
    2. The Traffic Policy/Profile users Credential Index 1 for username and Credential Index 2 for Password. These are the same indexes configured in the Dual Factor Login Schema.

The order of configuration doesn’t match the authentication flow because some objects have to be created before others.

# Create Auth vServer, bind server cert, bind CA cert for client certificates
# Enable Optional client certificates
add authentication vserver nFactorAAA SSL 0.0.0.0 443 -AuthenticationDomain corp.com
bind ssl vserver nFactorAAA -certkeyName WildCorpCom
bind ssl vserver nFactorAAA -certkeyName CorpRoot -CA -ocspCheck Optional
set ssl vserver nFactorAAA -clientAuth ENABLED -clientCert Optional -ssl3 DISABLED

# Create auth policy for LDAP-UPN
add authentication ldapAction Corp-UserPrincipalName -serverIP 10.2.2.220 -serverPort 636 -ldapBase "dc=corp,dc=local" -ldapBindDn "corp\\ctxsvc" -ldapBindDnPassword "MyPassword" -ldapLoginName userPrincipalName -groupAttrName memberOf -subAttributeName CN -secType SSL -passwdChange ENABLED
add authentication Policy Corp-UserPrincipalName -rule true -action Corp-UserPrincipalName

# Create PolicyLabel LDAPPasswordOnly with Single-factor Login Schema
add authentication loginSchema SingleAuth -authenticationSchema "/nsconfig/loginschema/LoginSchema/SingleAuth-Corp.xml"
add authentication policylabel LDAPPasswordOnly -loginSchema SingleAuth
bind authentication policylabel LDAPPasswordOnly -policyName Corp-UserPrincipalName -priority 100 -gotoPriorityExpression NEXT

# Create Cert policy and bind to AAA vServer with LDAPPasswordOnly PolicyLabel as Next Factor
# Cert policy must have lower priority number than LDAP-SAM policy
add authentication certAction Cert_Auth_Profile -userNameField SubjectAltName:PrincipalName
add authentication Policy Cert_Auth_Policy -rule true -action Cert_Auth_Profile
bind authentication vserver nFactorAAA -policy Cert_Auth_Policy -priority 100 -nextFactor LDAPPasswordOnly -gotoPriorityExpression NEXT

# Create LDAP-SAM Auth Policy
add authentication ldapAction Corp-Gateway -serverIP 10.2.2.220 -serverPort 636 -ldapBase "dc=corp,dc=local" -ldapBindDn "corp\\ctxsvc" -ldapBindDnPassword "MyPassword" -ldapLoginName samaccountname -groupAttrName memberOf -subAttributeName CN -secType SSL -passwdChange ENABLED
add authentication Policy Corp-SAMAccountName -rule true -action Corp-Gateway

# Create RADIUS Auth Policy
add authentication radiusAction RADIUS-Action -serverIP 10.2.2.42 -serverPort 1812 -radKey MyKey
add authentication Policy RADIUS-Policy -rule true -action RADIUS-Action

# Create Dual-factor Login Schema and bind directly to AAA vServer
# This Login Schema is only shown if Cert auth fails
add authentication loginSchema DualAuth -authenticationSchema "/nsconfig/loginschema/LoginSchema/DualAuth.xml" -userCredentialIndex 1 -passwordCredentialIndex 2
add authentication loginSchemaPolicy DualAuth -rule true -action DualAuth
bind authentication vserver nFactorAAA -policy DualAuth -priority 100 -gotoPriorityExpression END

# Create RADIUS Policy Label with noschema and RADIUS Auth Policy
add authentication loginSchema Noschema -authenticationSchema noschema
add authentication policylabel NoSchema-RADIUS -loginSchema Noschema
bind authentication policylabel NoSchema-RADIUS -policyName RADIUS-Policy -priority 100 -gotoPriorityExpression NEXT

# Bind LDAP-SAM Auth Policy to AAA vServer with RADIUS as next factor
# LDAP-SAM Auth Policy must have higher priority number than Cert Policy
bind authentication vserver nFactorAAA -policy Corp-SAMAccountName -priority 110 -nextFactor NoSchema-RADIUS -gotoPriorityExpression NEXT

# Create Authentication Profile to link AAA with Gateway. Bind to Gateway.
add authentication authnProfile nFactor -authnVsName nFactorAAA -AuthenticationHost aaa.corp.com
add vpn vserver gateway.corp.com SSL 10.2.2.220 443 -icaOnly ON -dtls ON -Listenpolicy NONE -tcpProfileName nstcp_default_XA_XD_profile -appflowLog ENABLED -authnProfile nFactor

# Enable Optional Client certs on Gateway
set ssl vserver gateway.corp.com -clientAuth ENABLED -clientCert Optional -ssl3 DISABLED
bind ssl vserver gateway.corp.com -certkeyName CorpRoot -CA -ocspCheck Optional

# Create Traffic Policy to SSON to StoreFront. Bind to Gateway.
add vpn trafficAction nFactorSSO http -kcdAccount NONE -userExpression "http.req.user.attribute(1)" -passwdExpression "http.req.user.attribute(2)"
add vpn trafficPolicy nFactorSSO ns_true nFactorSSO
bind vpn vserver gateway.corp.com -policy nFactorSSO -priority 100

EUC Weekly Digest – June 18, 2016

Last Modified: Sep 2, 2018 @ 7:51 am

Leave a comment

Here are some EUC items I found interesting last week:

NetScaler

StoreFront

XenApp/XenDesktop

Profile Management

Receiver

ShareFile

XenMobile

XenServer

VMware

Microsoft

EUC Weekly Digest – June 11, 2016

Last Modified: Sep 2, 2018 @ 7:48 am

Leave a comment
Here are some EUC items I found interesting last week:

XenApp/XenDesktop

StoreFront

NetScaler

XenServer

VMware

Other

NetScaler Gateway 11.1 – SSL VPN

Last Modified: Nov 7, 2020 @ 6:35 am

43 Comments

Navigation

💡 = Recently Updated

Overview

Here’s an overview of the NetScaler Gateway connection process:

  1. Users use SSL/TLS to connect to a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server (VIP).
  2. NetScaler Gateway prompts the user for authentication.
  3. Once the user is authenticated, NetScaler Gateway uses Session Policies/Profiles to determine what happens next.

NetScaler Gateway supports five different connection methods:

  • ICA Proxy to XenApp/XenDesktop – the client is built into Citrix Receiver
  • SSL VPN – requires installation of NetScaler Gateway plug-in
  • Clientless – browser only, no VPN client, uses rewrite
  • Secure Browse – from MDX-wrapped mobile applications (XenMobile), uses rewrite
  • RDP Proxy – only RDP client is needed

You can configure NetScaler Gateway Session Policies/Profiles to only use one of the connection methods. Or NetScaler Gateway can be configured to let users choose between ICA Proxy, Clientless, and SSL VPN connection methods. Here’s a sample Client Choices screen using the RfWebUI theme:

Session Policies/Profiles have several settings that control the behavior seen after authentication:

  • ICA Proxy – ON or OFF
    • If ON, then ICA Proxy is the only connection method allowed, overriding the other connection methods.
    • ICA Proxy does not launch the VPN client. It only needs Citrix Receiver.
    • ICA Proxy shows the Webpage that’s configured in the Web Interface Address field of the Session Profile. This is typically the StoreFront Receiver for Web page, but technically it can be any internal website.
    • If OFF, that doesn’t mean ICA Proxy doesn’t work. You can still send ICA traffic to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, and the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server will still proxy it to internal VDAs.
    • Setting it to OFF allows the other connection methods to function. For example, Clientless Access can show both NetScaler Gateway Bookmarks and StoreFront published apps. If VPN is launched, then the portal page shown to the user after the tunnel is established can contain the StoreFront published applications.
  • Clientless Access – On, Off, Allow
    • If On, then Clientless is the only connection method allowed, assuming ICA Proxy is not set to ON. After the user logs in, the user is presented with a portal page that contains a list of bookmarks and/or StoreFront published icons. The VPN Client is not launched.
    • The Home Page setting in the Session Profile allows you to display an internal website instead of displaying the NetScaler Gateway Portal Page.
    • Bookmarks are configured at NetScaler Gateway > Resources > Bookmarks. You can bind the Bookmarks (Urls) to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, or to AAA Groups.
    • Only Bookmarks configured for Clientless Access will work. The internal websites are rewritten so they are proxied through NetScaler Gateway. For example, if the internal website is http://intranet.corp.local, then Gateway rewrites them to https://gateway.corp.com/cvpn/http/internal.corp.local. This causes the web browser to send the HTTP Request to NetScaler Gateway, which then forwards the HTTP Request to the internal web server. No VPN needed.
  • Plug-in Type – Windows/MAC OS X
    • If both Clientless and ICA Proxy are set to Off, then the VPN Client will be downloaded and launched.
    • Once the VPN tunnel is established, the webpage configured in the Home Page setting is displayed. Or the NetScaler Gateway Portal Page (Clientless Access) is displayed if no Home Page is configured. The Bookmarks in the Portal Page can link to internal websites that are only accessible through a VPN tunnel. Or Bookmarks can be configured for Clientless Access.
    • Additional Gateway objects control VPN behavior including: DNS Suffix, Intranet Applications, Intranet IPs, and Authorization Policies.
  • Client Choices – checked or unchecked
    • If Client Choices is checked, then it displays a page containing up to three buttons corresponding to the connection methods shown above. The Network Access with the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in (VPN)  button is always displayed. The Clientless Access button is displayed if Clientless Access is set to On or Allow. The Virtual App and Desktop Access button is displayed if a Web Interface Address is configured.

Here are some characteristics of Session Policies/Profiles:

  • Policy Expression – If the Session Policy Expression is true, then the settings contained in the Session Profile are applied.
    • The Session Profile is also sometimes called the Action. That’s because all NetScaler policies follow a standard structure – if the expression evaluates to True, then perform the Action. For Session Policies in particular, the policy Action = Session Profile.
    • Session Policy Expressions are typically ns_true, which is always true, or an Endpoint Analysis (EPA) Scan created using the OPSWAT EPA Editor. In the latter case, the Session Profile only applies if the EPA scan succeeded.
  • Policy Bind Points – Session Policies can be bound to three different bind points – NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, AAA Groups, and AAA User.
    • When bound to a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, the Session policy/profile applies to all users that log into that Virtual Server.
    • When bound to a AAA Group, the Session policy/profile only applies to members of the AAA group (Active Directory group or local group)
    • When  bound to a AAA User, the Session policy/profile only applies to the AAA user (Active Directory user or local user)
  • Profile Conflicts – Multiple Session Policies/Profiles could apply to a single session. In this case, the Profile settings are merged. But if there’s a conflict (e.g. one Session Profile enables Clientless access, but another Session Profile disables Clientless access), then which one wins?
    • Priority number – When you bind a Session Policy to a bind point, you specify a priority number. This priority number usually defaults to 100.
    • Lowest priority number wins – The Session Policy bind point that has the lowest priority number, wins. Session Policies bound with a priority of 80 will win over Session Policies bound with a priority of 100. Remember, for settings that don’t conflict, the two Profiles merge, but for settings that do conflict, the lower priority number policy/profile settings win.
    • Bind point types – The type of bind point doesn’t matter. If you bind a Session Policy to a AAA Group with a priority of 100, and you also bind a Session Policy to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server with a priority of 80, then the conflicting settings in the Session Policy bound to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server will win. You might think that AAA-bound policies always override Virtual Server-bound policies, but that is not the case.

AAA Groups are a critical component of NetScaler Gateway VPN configuration:

  • Group extraction – Make sure the LDAP Policy/Server is configured to extract to the user’s Active Directory Groups.
  • Create AAA Groups on the NetScaler that match exactly (case sensitive) with the user’s Active Directory Group Name.
  • You can then bind policies and other Gateway objects to the AAA Group, and these bindings only affect that particular AAA Group. These bindings include:
  • If the user belongs to multiple AAA Groups, then policies are applied as follows:
    • Session Policies – the settings are merged, unless there’s a conflict. If a conflict, then the policy with the lowest priority number wins.
    • Bookmarks, Intranet Applications, and Authorization Policies are merged.
    • Intranet IPs (IP Pool) are probably random allocation. It’s probably best to make sure a user only belongs to one AAA Group that assigns Intranet IPs.
  • You can also create local AAA Groups that are unrelated to Active Directory groups. There are several ways of getting users into these local AAA groups:
    • Create local AAA Users and assign them to the AAA Group
    • Configure Session Policy/Profile with a Client Security Check String (EPA Scan). If the scan succeeds, users are placed into local Authorization AAA Groups. If the scan fails, then users are placed into a local Quarantine AAA Group and removed from all other AAA Groups.
    • When users are authenticated with a particular authentication server, the authentication server can be configured to place users into a Default Authentication Group. This lets you apply different Session Policy/Profiles (and other Gateway objects) depending on how the user authenticated.

NetScaler Gateway supports Client Security Expressions (Endpoint Analysis expressions) at three different locations:

  • Preauthentication Policy Expression
    • If the EPA Scan succeeds, then the user is allowed to login.
    • If the EPA Scan fails, then the user is not allowed to login.
    • Preauthentication Policies are bound to NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers only, and thus applies to all users of that Virtual Server.
  • Session Policy Expression –
    • This type of EPA Scan is configured in the Session Policy Expression, not the Profile.
    • If the EPA Scan succeeds, then the settings in the Session Profile are applied to the session.
    • If the EPA Scan fails, then the Session Profile is ignored. Other Session Policies expressions are still evaluated. Remember, Session Policy/Profiles merge, so all applicable Session Policies must be considered.
    • A limitation of this EPA method is that nothing negative happens. Instead, you typically design higher priority number (lower priority) Session Policies with restrictive settings so that if the EPA Scans fail, then users still get something. For example, youcan  configure your highest priority number Session Policy/Profile with StoreFront (ICA Proxy) only. In the lower priority number Session Policies/Profiles, VPN might be enabled, but only if the EPA scan succeeds. More restrictive Session Profiles usually uncheck Client Choices, and enable Clientless Access or ICA Proxy.
    • This method of EPA Scans is used in SmartAccess and SmartControl configurations.
  • Session Profile > Security > Advanced Settings > Client Security Check String
    • If the EPA Scan succeeds, add the user to the listed Authorization AAA Groups.
    • If the EPA Scan fails, add the user to the selected Quarantine Group, and remove the user from all other AAA Groups.
  • Assigning EPA scans to Session Policies and Session Profiles is also known as Post-Authentication EPA Scans.
  • If Endpoint Analysis is configured anywhere, then an Endpoint Analysis plug-in is downloaded to the Windows or Mac client.

Prerequisites

Except for ICA Proxy, all NetScaler Gateway connection methods require a NetScaler Gateway Universal License for each concurrent session. Go to System > Licenses and make sure NetScaler Gateway User licenses are installed.

Also make sure the maximum AAA users equals the number of licenses. Go to NetScaler Gateway > Global Settings > Change authentication AAA settings.

DNS usually needs to function across the VPN tunnel. Go to Traffic Management > DNS > Name Servers to add DNS servers.

Create Session Profile

To enable SSL VPN: first create the Session Profile. Then create a Session Policy.

You can create multiple session Policies/Profiles with different settings. Then you can bind these Session Policies to AAA groups and/or NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers.

To enable SSL VPN in a Session Profile:

  1. On the left, expand NetScaler Gateway, expand Policies, and click Session.
  2. On the right, switch to the Session Profiles tab, and click Add.
  3. Name the profile VPN or similar.
  4. In Session Profiles, every line has an Override Global checkbox to the right of it. If you check this box next to a particular field, then the field in this session profile will override settings configured globally or in a lower priority session policy.
  5. Switch to the Network Configuration tab.
  6. You will find a setting that lets you select a DNS Virtual Server. Or if you don’t select anything, then the tunnel will use the DNS servers configured under Traffic Management > DNS > Name Servers.
  7. Switch to the Client Experience tab. This tab contains most of the NetScaler Gateway VPN settings.
  8. Override Plug-in Type and set it to Windows/Mac OS X.
  9. On the Client Experience tab, override Split Tunnel and make your choice. Setting it to OFF will force all traffic to use the tunnel. Setting it to ON will require you to create Intranet Applications so the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in will know which traffic goes through the tunnel, and which traffic goes directly out the client NIC (e.g. to the Internet). REVERSE means all traffic goes through the tunnel except for the addresses defined in Intranet Applications.
  10. On the Client Experience tab, there are timers that can be configured. Global Settings contains default timers, so you might want to configure this Session Profile to override the defaults and increase the timeouts. See Configuring Time-Out Settings at Citrix Docs for details.
    1. Client Idle Time-out is a NetScaler Gateway Plug-in timer that disconnects the session if there is no user activity (mouse, keyboard) on the client machine.
    2. Session Time-out is a NetScaler timer that disconnects the session if there is no network activity for this duration.
    3. In addition to these two timers, on the Network Configuration tab, under Advanced Settings, there’s a Forced Timeout setting.

  11. By default, once the VPN tunnel is established, a portal page appears containing bookmarks, and StoreFront published icons. An example of the portal page in the RfWebUI theme is shown below:
  12. The X1 theme is shown below:
  13. On the Client Experience tab, the Home Page field lets you override the the default portal page, and instead display a different webpage (e.g. Intranet). This homepage is displayed after the VPN tunnel is established (or immediately if connecting using Clientless Access).
  14. NetScaler Gateway 11.1 can now automatically start the VPN tunnel whenever the user is remote. Click the plus icon next to AlwaysON Profile Name.
  15. Give the profile name. Hover over the question marks to see what each of them does. Then click Create. More info at AlwaysON at Citrix Docs.
  16. Additional VPN settings can be found by clicking Advanced Settings near the bottom of the Client Experience tab.
  17. Under Client Experience > Advanced Settings, on the General tab, there are settings to run a login script at login, enable/disable Split DNS, and enable Local LAN Access. Use the question marks to see what they do. Reliable DNS occurs when Split DNS is set to Remote.
  18. Note: if Split Tunnel is OFF, and if Split DNS is set to REMOTE, NetScaler only returns one IP address to DNS queries. This behavior can be changed by following Citrix CTX200243 DNS Query Responds with Only One IP to Client PC When Connected Through NetScaler Gateway Full VPN.  💡
  19. Under Client Experience > Advanced Settings, on the General tab, is a checkbox for Client Choices. This lets the user decide if they want VPN, Clientless, or ICA Proxy (StoreFront). Without Client Choices, one of the connection methods will occur automatically, depending on what’s enabled.
  20. On the main Client Experience tab, if you enabled Client Choices, you can set Clientless Access to Allow to add Clientless to the list of available connection methods.
  21. An example of Client Choices is shown below:
  22. The Client Experience > Advanced Settings section has additional tabs. A commonly configured tab is Proxy, which allows you to enable a proxy server for VPN users.
  23. Back in the main Session Profile, switch to the Security tab.
  24. Set the default authorization to Allow or Deny. If Deny (recommended), you will need to create authorization policies to allow traffic across the tunnel. You can later create different authorization policies for different groups of users.
  25. On the Published Applications tab, set ICA Proxy to Off. This ensures VPN is used instead of ICA Proxy.
  26. Configure the Web Interface Address, to embed StoreFront into the default portal page. Note: for X1 theme, additional iFrame configuration is required on the StoreFront side as detailed below. RfWebUI theme does not need any StoreFront changes.
  27. From Michael Krasnove: if you configured the Session Policy to direct users to StoreFront, but aren’t using RfWebUI, then placing the following code in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\StoreWeb\custom\script.js will cause StoreFront to end the VPN tunnel when the user logs off of StoreFront. 
    var LOGOFF_REDIRECT_URL = 'https://YourGatewayFQDN.com/cgi/logout';
 
// Prevent the default "logoff" screen from being displayed
CTXS.Controllers.LogoffController.prototype._handleLogoffResult = $.noop;
 
CTXS.Extensions.afterWebLogoffComplete = function () {
 window.location.href = LOGOFF_REDIRECT_URL;
};
  28. Click Create when you’re done creating the Session Profile.

Create Session Policy

Once the Session Profile is created, you need a Session Policy linked to it. The Session Policy contains an expression, where if true, then the Session Profile is applied.

If multiple Session Policies apply to a particular connection, then the settings in the policies are merged. For conflicting settings, the Session Policy with the highest priority (lowest priority number) wins. Session Policies bound to AAA groups only override Session Policies bound to NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers if the AAA group bind point has a lower priority number. In other words, priority numbers are evaluated globally no matter where the Session Policy is bound. You can run the command nsconmsg –d current –g pol_hits to see which Session Policies are applying to a particular connection. See CTX214588 Understanding Session Policy Priority on Different Bind Points.

You can also bind Endpoint Analysis expressions to a Session Policy so that the Session Policy only applies to machines that pass the Endpoint Analysis scan.

To create a Session Policy that is linked to a Session Profile:

  1. In the right pane, switch to the Session Policies, tab and click Add.
  2. Give the policy a descriptive name.
  3. Change the Profile drop-down to the VPN Profile you just created.
  4. Add a policy expression. You can enter ns_true, which applies to all connections. This box uses classic expression syntax.
  5. Or you can add Endpoint Analysis scans. If the Endpoint Analysis scan succeeds, then the session policy is applied. If the Endpoint Analysis scan fails, then this session policy is skipped, and the next one is evaluated. This is how you can allow VPN if EPA scan succeeds, but all failed EPA scans will get a different session policy that only has ICA Proxy enabled.
  6. To add an Endpoint Analysis scan, use one of the Editor links on the right.
  7. Configure OPSWAT scans in the OPSWAT EPA Editor.
  8. Configure Client Security Expressions in the Expression Editor.
  9. You can combine multiple Endpoint Analysis scan expressions using Booleans (&&, ||, !). Click Create when done.

Bind Session Policy

Most of the NetScaler Gateway configuration objects can be bound to NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, AAA Group, or both. This section details binding of Session Policies, but the other NetScaler Gateway objects (e.g. Authorization Policies) can be bound using similar instructions.

If you bind the Session Policy to a AAA group, only members of that Active Directory group will evaluate the policy expression and potentially receive the Session Profile settings.

Bind the new Session Policy to a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, or a AAA group.

  1. To bind to a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, edit a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server (or create a new one).
  2. Click the pencil icon for the Basic Settings section.
  3. Click More.
  4. Make sure ICA Only is unchecked and click OK. If this box is checked then VPN, Clientless, and other features won’t work.
  5. Note: with this box unchecked, Gateway Universal licenses are now required for all users connecting through this Gateway vServer.
  6. Scroll down to the Policies section, and click the Plus icon.
  7. In the Choose Type page, select Session, Request and click Continue.
  8. Click to select.
  9. Select the policy, and click Select.
  10. Click Bind.
  11. If you bind multiple session policies, the policies are merged based on priority number. This is where you specify a priority for each bound policy. See CTX214588 Understanding Session Policy Priority on Different Bind Points.
  12. You can also edit the policy or profile from this screen by clicking the ellipsis icon next to each bound policy.
  13. While editing the Gateway vServer, consider changing the Portal Theme to RfWebUI. This changes the default portal page to look identical to StoreFront. RfWebUI requires StoreFront to be 3.6 or newer.
  14. To bind to a AAA Group, go to NetScaler Gateway > User Administration > AAA Groups.
  15. Add a group with the same name (case sensitive) as the Active Directory group name. This assumes your LDAP policies/server are configured for group extraction (Group Attribute, and Sub Attribute).
  16. Edit the AAA Group.
  17. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, add the Policies section.
  18. Click the plus icon to bind one or more Session Policies.
  19. If you want these Session Policies to override the Session Policies bound to the NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, then make sure the Session Policies bound to the AAA Group have lower priority numbers. See CTX214588 Understanding Session Policy Priority on Different Bind Points.


NetScaler Gateway Plug-in Installation

Here is what the user sees when launching the VPN session for the first time. This assumes the user is an administrator of the local machine.


And then the default portal page is displayed. If using the RfWebUI theme, it might prompt you to install Receiver.

Only administrators can install the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in. You can download the Gateway plug-in from the NetScaler appliance at /var/netscaler/gui/vpns/scripts/vista and push it to corporate-managed machines. Or you can download VPN clients from Citrix.com. The VPN client version must match the NetScaler firmware version.

While a VPN tunnel is established, you can open the Gateway Plug-in to see status. If the Gateway Plug-in is merged with Receiver, right-click Receiver, click Advanced Preferences, click NetScaler Gateway Settings and click Open.

Or, right-click the Gateway Plug-in icon, and click Open.

The hamburger menu on the left lets you see more info about the VPN tunnel.

If the Gateway VPN session isn’t established, you can open the Gateway plug-in, and login. No browser needed.

The Configuration page lets you enable Logging. Then the Logging page lets you collect the logs. See Citrix CTX138155 How to Collect Client VPN Logs for NetScaler Gateway.  💡

VPN Client (NetScaler Gateway Plug-in) Session Profile Settings

  1. By default, if Receiver and NetScaler Gateway Plug-in are installed on the same machine, then the icons are merged. To see the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in Settings, you right-click Receiver, open Advanced Preferences, and then click NetScaler Gateway Settings. This makes it difficult to log off.

  2. You can configure the Session Policy/Profile to prevent the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in from merging with Receiver. Edit your VPN Session Policy/Profile. On the Client Experience tab, scroll down, and check the box next to Advanced Settings.
  3. Check the box next to Show VPN Plugin-in icon with Receiver. This causes the two icons to be displayed separately thus making it easier to access the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in settings, including Logoff.


  4. When the user logs off of VPN, a Cleanup page is displayed. This can be enabled or disabled in a Session Profile on the Client Experience tab.

  5. The cleanup options can be forced in a Session Profile on the Client Experience tab, under Advanced Settings > Client Cleanup.
  6. Whenever NetScaler firmware is upgraded, all users will be prompted to upgrade their VPN clients. You can edit a Session Policy/Profile, and use the Upgrade drop-downs to disable the automatic upgrade.
  7. The Plugin Upgrade settings are also configurable in the Gateway vServer, in the Basic Settings section.

Authorization Policies

If your Session Profile has Security tab > Default Authorization set to Deny (recommended), then create Authorization Policies to allow access across the tunnel.

  1. On the left, under NetScaler Gateway, expand Policies, and click Authorization.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Name the Authorization Policy.
  4. Select Allow or Deny.
  5. NetScaler Gateway requires you to Switch to Classic Syntax. The other syntax option is for AAA.
  6. Enter an expression. Use the Expression Editor link to build an expression. You can specify destination IP subnets, destination port numbers, etc.
  7. Click Create when done.
  8. Authorization Policies are usually bound to AAA groups. This allows different groups to have different access across the tunnel.
  9. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, add the Authorization Policies section.
  10. Then click where it says No Authorization Policy to bind policies.

Intranet Applications

If you enabled Split Tunnel, then you’ll need to create Intranet Applications to specify which traffic goes through the tunnel.

  1. On the left, under NetScaler Gateway, expand Resources, and click Intranet Applications.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter a name for the Internal subnet.
  4. Change the Interception Mode to TRANSPARENT.
  5. Enter an IP subnet. Only packets destined for this network go across the tunnel.
  6. Then click Create.
  7. Create additional Intranet applications for each internal subnet.
  8. Intranet Applications are usually bound to the Gateway Virtual Server, but you can also bind them to AAA Groups.
  9. On the right, in the Advanced Settings column, add the Intranet Applications section.
  10. On the left, click No Intranet Application to bind Intranet Applications.

DNS Suffix

Specify a DNS Suffix for Split DNS to function with single label DNS names.

  1. On the left, under NetScaler Gateway, expand Resources, and click DNS Suffix.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter the DNS Suffix, and click Create. You can add multiple suffixes.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks are the links that are displayed in the default portal interface. They can point to websites, or RDP addresses.

  1. Under NetScaler Gateway, expand Resources, and click Bookmarks.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the bookmark a name and display text.
  4. Enter a website or RDP address.
  5. The other fields are for Single Sign-on through Unified Gateway. Click Create.
  6. Bookmarks (aka Published Applications > Url) are usually bound to AAA groups so different groups can have different bookmarks. But it’s also possible to bind Bookmarks to NetScaler Gateway Virtual Servers.
  7. If NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, add the Published Applications section to bind Bookmarks (Url).
  8. For AAA Group, it’s the Bookmarks section.
  9. On the left, find the Published Applications section and click No Url to bind Bookmarks.

VPN Client IP Pools (Intranet IPs)

By default, NetScaler Gateway VPN clients use NetScaler SNIP as their source IP when communicating with internal resources. To support IP Phones or endpoint management, you must instead assign IP addresses to VPN clients.

Any IP pool you add to NetScaler must be reachable from the internal network. Configure a static route on the upstream router. The reply traffic should be routed through a NetScaler SNIP. Or the NetScaler can participate in OSPF.

When a client is assigned a client IP, this IP address persists across multiple sessions until the appliance reboots, or until the appliance runs out of IPs in the pool.

  1. Edit a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server or a AAA group.
  2. On the right, in the Advanced Settings section, click the plus icon next to Intranet IP Addresses.
  3. On the left, click where it says No Intranet IP.
  4. Enter a subnet and netmask. Click Bind.
  5. In a Session Policy/Profile, on the Network Configuration tab, check the box next to Advanced Settings.
  6. Use the Intranet IP drop-down to configure the behavior when there are more VPN clients than available IPs in the address pool.
  7. If you set it to NOSPILLOVER, then users can only have one VPN session, as described in CTX218066 How to Limit One Session Per User on NetScaler Gateway?.  💡


  8. To see the Client IP address, on the client side, after the tunnel is established, right-click the NetScaler Gateway Plug-in, and click Open.
  9. See the Internal network address.
  10. To see the client IP on the NetScaler, go to NetScaler Gateway, and on the right is Active user sessions.
  11. Select one of the views, and click Continue.
  12. The right column contains the Intranet IP.

StoreFront in Gateway X1 Portal

If you enabled the RfWebUI theme, then no StoreFront configuration is necessary.

But if you want to embed StoreFront in the other Gateway themes (X1, Default, Green Bubble), then follow these instructions.

  1. On StoreFront, edit the file C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\StoreWeb\web.config.
  2. On the bottom, there are three sections containing X-Frame-Options. Change all three of them from deny to allow.
  3. Also change frame-ancestors from none to self.
  4. In NetScaler, go to NetScaler Gateway > Global Settings and click Configure Domains for Clientless Access.
  5. Change the selection to Allow Domains, enter your StoreFront FQDN and click the plus icon.
  6. Click OK.
  7. In a Session Policy/Profile, on the Client Experience tab, make sure Single Sign-on to Web Applications is enabled.
  8. On the Published Applications tab, configure the Web Interface Address to point to the StoreFront Receiver for Web page.
  9. Configure the Single Sign-on domain to match what’s configured in StoreFront.
  10. The Applications page of the 3-page portal (e.g. X1 theme) should automatically show the StoreFront published icons.

Quarantine Group

NetScaler Gateway can be configured so that if Endpoint Analysis scans fail, then the user is placed into a Quarantine Group. You can bind session policies, authorization policies, etc. to this quarantine group. Policies bound to other AAA groups are ignored.

  1. Go to NetScaler Gateway > User Administration > AAA Groups.
  2. Add a new local group for your Quarantined Users. This group is local, and does not need to exist in Active Directory.
  3. Create a new Session Profile.
  4. On the Security tab, check the box next to Advanced Settings.
  5. Check the box to the right of Client Security Check String.
  6. Use the Editor links to add an Endpoint Analysis expression.
  7. Just below the Client Security Check String, select the previously created Quarantine Group.
  8. Click Create when done.
  9. Create a Session Policy and select the Session Profile you just created.
  10. Enter ns_true as the expression. Then click Create.
  11. Edit your Gateway Virtual Server and bind the new session policy.
  12. Bind session policies, authorization policies, etc. to your quarantine AAA group. These policies typically limit access to the internal network so users can remediate. Or, it might simply display a webpage telling users how to become compliant.
  13. To troubleshoot Quarantine policies, use the command nsconmsg –d current –g pol_hits.
  14. Another option is to use the session policy bound to the Quarantine Group for SmartAccess configuration.
  15. Gateway Insight shows users that failed EPA scans and their quarantine status.

Related Pages

NetScaler Management and Analytics System (MAS) 11.1

Last Modified: Nov 6, 2020 @ 6:51 am

55 Comments

Navigation

The newer 12.0 version of NetScaler MAS is detailed in a different post.

💡 = Recently Updated

Planning

NetScaler MAS is a replacement for NetScaler Insight Center, Command Center, and Control Center. It’s a combination of these three different tools.

NetScaler MAS is a licensed product. It’s free for 30 vServers. Beyond that, licenses can be purchased in 100 vServer packs. Alternatively, you can continue to use Insight Center and/or Command Center.

Requirements for HDX Insight (AppFlow):

  • Your NetScaler appliance must be running Enterprise Edition or Platinum Edition.
  • NetScaler must be 10.1 or newer.
  • HDX Insight works with the following Receivers:
    • Receiver for Windows must be 3.4 or newer.
    • Receiver for Mac must be 11.8 or newer.
    • Receiver for Linux must be 13 or newer.
    • Notice no mobile Receivers. See the Citrix Receiver Feature Matrix for the latest details.
  • For Session Reliability, NetScaler 10.5 build 54 and newer.
  • ICA traffic must flow through a NetScaler appliance:

 

For ICA round trip time calculations, in a Citrix Policy, enable the following settings:

  • ICA > End User Monitoring > ICA Round Trip Calculation
  • ICA > End User Monitoring > ICA Round Trip Calculation Interval
  • ICA > End User Monitoring > ICA Round Trip Calculation for Idle Connections

Citrix CTX204274 How ICA RTT is calculated on NetScaler Insight: ICA RTT constitutes the actual application delay. ICA_RTT = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +5 +6:

  1. Client OS introduced delay
  2. Client to NS introduced network delay (Wan Latency)
  3. NS introduced delay in processing client to NS traffic (Client Side Device Latency)
  4. NS introduced delay in processing NS to Server (XA/XD) traffic (Server Side Device Latency)
  5. NS to Server network delay (DC Latency)
  6. Server (XA/XD) OS introduced delay (Host Delay)

 

The version/build of NetScaler MAS must be the same or newer than the version/build of the NetScaler appliances.

Import Appliance

You can use either the vSphere Client, or the vSphere Web Client, to import the appliance. In vSphere Client, open the File menu, and click Deploy OVF Template. vSphere Web Client instructions are shown below.

You might see this operating system error when not using the vSphere Web Client. Click Yes to proceed. It seems to work.

  1. Download NetScaler MAS for ESX, and then extract the .zip file.
  2. In vSphere Web Client, right-click a cluster, and click Deploy OVF Template.
  3. In the Select source page, select Local file, and browse to the NetScaler MAS .ovf files. Click Next.
  4. In the Review details page, click Next.
  5. In the Select name and folder page, enter a name for the virtual machine, and select an inventory folder. Then click Next.
  6. In the Select a resource page, select a cluster or resource pool, and click Next.
  7. In the Select storage page, select a datastore. If a single appliance, or if a database appliance, due to high IOPS, SSD or Flash is recommended.
  8. Change the virtual disk format to Thin Provision. Click Next.
  9. In the Setup networks page, choose a valid port group, and click Finish.
  10. In the Ready to Complete page, check the box next to Power on after deployment, and click Finish.
  11. If you try to power on the VM, and you see a message about freeBSD not being supported, then you might have to upgrade the VM Hardware Compatibility Level. VM hardware version 4 seems to be too old.  💡


  12. CTX219344 How to Increase Storage space for NetScaler MAS: power off appliance, add a second disk that’s larger than the first, then power on the appliance.  💡

IP Configuration and High Availability

  1. Open the console of the virtual machine, and configure an IP address.
  2. Enter 7 when done.
  3. When prompted for Deployment Type, enter 1 for NetScaler MAS Server. The first appliance must always be NetScaler MAS Server. Notice the new option for Remote Backup Node.  💡
  4. If you want to deploy two NMAS appliances and HA pair them, enter no for Standalone and yes for First Server Node.
  5. Note: HA is only for database redundancy. All other traffic (SNMP, AppFlow) only goes to one node.
  6. Enter Yes to reboot.
  7. Deploy another appliance.
  8. This time, when asked if First Server Node, enter no. You will then be asked for the IP address of the first node. Enter the nsroot password.
  9. From CTX220000 How to reboot or shutdown Netscaler MAS using CLI: when using the MAS CLI, do not use the reboot command since it will cause data corruption. Instead, run shutdown -r now.
  10. If you need to add a static route to NetScaler MAS, then see CTX223282 How to Add a Static Route on NetScaler MAS.  💡
  11. Once you’ve built all of the nodes, point your browser to the primary NetScaler MAS IP address and login as nsroot/nsroot.
  12. If you see CUXIP, either Skip or Enable the Customer User Experience Improvement Program.
  13. Click Get Started
  14. Select Two servers deployed in High Availability Mode, and click Next.
  15. It should show both nodes. Click Deploy on the top right.
  16. Click Yes to reboot the appliances.
  17. If you login to one of the appliances, at System > Deployment, you’ll see the performance of each node. Notice the Break HA icon on the top right.

  18. You can manage the pair by logging in to either node.
  19. Or you can load balance the pair. Load Balancing is only useful for administration. All other communications (e.g.  SNMP, AppFlow) go directly to one of the nodes. See High Availability Deployment at Citrix Docs for load balancing instructions.

Add Instances

NetScaler MAS must discover NetScaler instances before they can be managed. Citrix Docs How NetScaler MAS Communicates with Managed Instances.

  1. Login to one of the NetScaler MAS appliances.
  2. If you see the Get Started page, click Get Started.
  3. In the Select Deployment Type page, click Next.
  4. On the Add New Instances page, click + New near the top right.

  5. Enter the NSIP address of a NetScaler appliance.
  6. Click the pencil next to ns_nsroot_profile.
  7. Enter the password for the nsroot account.
  8. Enter an SNMP community string that NetScaler MAS will configure on the appliance.
  9. The NetScaler Profile defaults to using https for instance communication. Click OK.
  10. Then click OK to add the instance.
  11. A progress window will appear.
  12. You can add more instances, or just click Finish.
  13. To add more instances later, go to Infrastructure > Dashboard, and on the top right, click All Instances.
  14. Then click New.

Licenses

Virtual Server License Packs

Without licenses, NetScaler MAS only shows 30 Virtual Servers. You can install additional licenses in 100 Virtual Server packs.

  1. Go to Infrastructure > Licenses > Settings.
  2. On the right, notice the Host ID. Allocate your NetScaler MAS licenses to this Host ID. Then use the Browse button to upload the allocated license file.
  3. You can use the Notification Settings section to email you when licenses are almost fully consumed or about to expire.

 

Allocate licenses to Virtual Servers 

If you have fewer Virtual Servers than the number of installed licenses, then licenses are automatically assigned to all Virtual Servers. You can manually unassign a license and reassign it to a different Virtual Server.

  1. Go to Infrastructure > Licenses > System Licenses.
  2. On the top right, click Modify licensed Virtual Servers.
  3. In the top row, select the type of Virtual Server you want to unlicense or license.
  4. Select one or more Virtual Servers, and click the Mark Unlicensed button.
  5. Click Yes when asked to mark unlicensed.
  6. To allocate a license to a Virtual Server, click the Add Virtual Servers button.
  7. Select the Virtual Server(s) you want to allocate and click Select.
  8. Click Finish now when done.

Enable AppFlow / Insight

  1. Go to Infrastructure > Instances > Instance type (e.g. NetScaler VPX).
  2. Click the ellipsis next to an instance, and then click Enable/Disable Insight.
  3. At the top of the page are boxes you can check.
  4. With Load Balancing selected in the View list, click the ellipsis next to your StoreFront load balancer, and click Enable AppFlow.
  5. Type in true.
  6. Select Web Insight. If App Firewall is enabled on the vServer then also select Security Insight.
  7. HTML Injection injects JavaScript in HTTP responses to measure page load times.
  8. Click OK.
  9. Use the View drop-down to select VPN.
  10. Click the ellipsis next a NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server, and click Enable AppFlow.
  11. In the Select Expression drop-down, select true.
  12. For Export Option, select ICA and HTTP, and click OK. The HTTP option is for Gateway Insight.
  13. The TCP option is for the second appliance in double-hop ICA. If you need double-hop then you’ll also need to run set appflow param -connectionChaining ENABLED on both appliances. See Enabling Data Collection for NetScaler Gateway Appliances Deployed in Double-Hop Mode at docs.citrix.com for more information.
  14. By default, with AppFlow enabled, if a NetScaler High Availability pair fails over, all Citrix connections will drop, and users must reconnect manually. NetScaler 11.1 build 49 adds a new feature to replicate Session Reliability state between both HA nodes.
    1. From Session Reliability on NetScaler High Availability Pair at Citrix Docs: Enabling this feature will result in increased bandwidth consumption, which is due to ICA compression being turned off by the feature, and the extra traffic between the primary and secondary nodes to keep them in sync.
    2. If you still want this feature, on NetScaler 11.1 build 49 and newer, go to System > Settings.
    3. On the right, click Change ICA Parameters.
    4. Check the box next to Session Reliability on HA Failover, and click OK.
  15. AppFlow (e.g. HDX Insight) information can be viewed in NetScaler MAS on the Analytics tab.

Citrix Blog Post – NetScaler Insight Center – Tips, Troubleshooting and Upgrade

Nsroot Password

  1. On the System tab, expand User Administration, and click Users.
  2. On the right, click the ellipsis next to the nsroot account, and click Edit.
  3. Enter a new password.
  4. You can also specify a session timeout. Click OK.

Management Certificate

The certificate to upload must already be in PEM format. If you have a .pfx, you must first convert it to PEM (separate certificate and key files). You can use NetScaler to convert the .pfx, and then download the converted certificate from the appliance.

  1. On the System tab, go to System Administration.
  2. On the right, click Install SSL Certificate.
  3. Click Choose File to browse to the PEM format certificate and key files. If the keyfile is encrypted, enter the password. Click OK.
  4. Click Yes to reboot the system.

System Configuration

  1. Click the System tab on the top of the page.
  2. On the left, click the System Administration node.
  3. On the right, modify settings (e.g.Time Zone) as desired.

  4. To change the Session Timeout, click Change System Settings.

  5. On the right column are additional settings. For example, System Prune Settings, which defaults to deleting SNMP traps after 15 days.

  6. Instances Backup Settings lets you configure the number of backup files to retain for each instance.
  7. There are more settings under System > Analytics Settings.
  8. ICA Session Timeout can be configured by clicking the link. Two minutes of non-existent traffic must occur before the session is considered idle. Then this idle timer starts.
  9. If you are using Web Insight, Configure Data Record Settings lets you enable Reports on the dashboard.

  10. Auditing > Syslog Purge Settings controls how long Syslog data is retained (15 days by default).

  11. On the left, click NTP Servers.
  12. On the right, click Add.


  13. After adding NTP servers, click NTP Synchronization.
  14. Check the box next to Enable NTP Synchronization, and click OK.
  15. Click Yes to restart.
  16. On the System tab, on the left, expand Auditing, and click Syslog Servers.
  17. On the right, click Add.
  18. Enter the syslog server IP address, and select Log Levels. Click Create.
  19. You can click Syslog Parameters to change the timezone and date format.

System Email Notifications

  1. On the System tab, on the left, expand Notifications, and click Email.
  2. On the right, on the Email Servers tab, click Add.
  3. Enter the SMTP server address, and click Create.
  4. On the right, switch to the Email Distribution List tab, and click Add.
  5. Enter an address for a destination distribution list, and click Create.
  6. On the left, click Notifications.
  7. On the right, click Change Notification Settings.
  8. Move notification categories (e.g. UserLogin) to the right.
  9. Select a notification distribution list. Then click OK.

Authentication

  1. On the System tab¸ expand Authentication, and click LDAP.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. This is configured identically to NetScaler. Enter a Load Balancing VIP for LDAP. Change the Security Type to SSL, and Port to 636. Scroll down.
  4. Enter the bind account credentials.
  5. Check the box for Enable Change Password.
  6. Click Retrieve Attributes, and scroll down.
  7. For Server Logon Attribute, select sAMAccountName.
  8. For Group Attribute, select memberOf.
  9. For Sub Attribute Name, select cn.
  10. To prevent unauthorized users from logging in, configure a Search Filter. Scroll down.
  11. If desired, configure Nested Group Extraction.
  12. Click Create.
  13. On the left, expand User Administration, and click Groups.
  14. On the right, click Add.
  15. Enter the case sensitive name of your NetScaler Admins group.
  16. Select the admin Permission.
  17. If desired, configure a Session Timeout. Click Next.
  18. On the Select Applications page, click Finish.
  19. On the left, click User Administration.
  20. On the right, click User Lockout Configuration.
  21. If desired, check the box next to Enable User Lockout, and configure the maximum logon attempts. Click OK.
  22. On the left, click Authentication.
  23. On the right, click Authentication Configuration.
  24. Change the Server Type to EXTERNAL, and click Insert.
  25. Select the LDAP server you created, and click OK.
  26. Make sure Enable fallback local authentication is checked, and click OK.

Analytics Thresholds

  1. Go to Analytics Settings > Thresholds.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Enter a name.
  4. Use the Traffic Type drop-down to select HDX or Web.
  5. Use the Entity drop-down to select a category of alerts. What you choose here determines what’s available in the Rule section.
  6. Check the box to Enable Alert.
  7. Check the box to Notify through Email.
  8. In the Rule section, select a rule, and enter threshold values. Click Create.

Geo Map

  1. Download the Maxmind database from http://geolite.maxmind.com/download/geoip/database/GeoLiteCity.dat.gz.
  2. Extract the .gz file.
  3. On the System tab, expand Advanced Settings, and click Geo Database Files.
  4. On the right, click Upload.
  5. Browse to the extracted GeoLiteCity.dat file, and click Open.
  6. You can also define Geo locations for internal subnets. Go to Infrastructure > Dashboard > Data Centers.
  7. On the right, click Add.
  8. Enter a name.
  9. Enter the starting and ending IP address.
  10. Select a Geo Location.
  11. Click Create.

Instance Email Alerts (SNMP Traps)

You can receive email alerts whenever a NetScaler appliance sends a critical SNMP trap.

  1. Go to Infrastructure > Events > Rules.
  2. On the right, click Add.
  3. Give the rule a name.
  4. Move Severity filters (e.g. Major, Critical) to the right.
  5. While scrolling down you’ll see additional alert filters.
  6. On the bottom of the page, click Add Action.
  7. Select an Action Type (e.g. Send e-mail), and select the recipients (or click the plus icon to add recipients).
  8. Click OK.
  9. Then click Create.

Director Integration

Integrating NetScaler MAS with Director adds Network tabs to Director’s Trends and Machine Details views. Citrix Blog Post Configure Director with Netscaler Management & Analytics System (MAS)

Requirements:

  • XenApp/XenDesktop must be licensed for Platinum Edition. This is only required for the Director integration. Without Platinum, you can still access the HDX Insight data by going visiting the NetScaler MAS website.
  • Director must be 7.11 or newer for NetScaler MAS support.
  • NetScaler MAS must be 11.1 build 49 or newer.

To link Citrix Director with NetScaler MAS, on the Director server, run C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\tools\DirectorConfig.exe /confignetscaler.

  1. Enter the NetScaler MAS nsroot credentials.
  2. If HTTPS Connection (recommended), the NetScaler MAS certificate must be valid and trusted by both the Director Server and the Director user’s browser.
  3. Enter 1 for NetScaler MAS.
  4. Do this on both Director servers.

Use NetScaler MAS

Marius Sandbu NetScaler Management and Analytics Systems has a quick rundown of the major features.

The AppFlow Analysis tools (e.g. HDX Insight) are located on the Analytics tab.

NetScaler MAS also includes all of the previous Command Center functionality, which you can find on the Infrastructure and Applications tabs. For example, on the Infrastructure tab, select an instance, and view its Dashboard.

Backups are available at View Backup.

Dave Bretty Automating Your Netscaler 11.1 Vserver Config Using Netscaler Management and Analytics System: use a Configuration Job to deploy StoreFront load balancing configuration to an instance.

On the Applications tab, Dashboard node, Applications sub-tab, you can click New Application to group vServers together so they can be monitored as a group.

Links:

HDX Insight

HDX Insight Dashboard displays ICA session details including the following:

  • WAN Latency
  • DC Latency
  • RTT (round trip time)
  • Retransmits
  • Application Launch Duration
  • Client Type/Version
  • Bandwidth
  • Licenses in use

HDX Insight can also display Geo Maps. Configure NetScaler MAS with Data Center definitions (private IP blocks). More info at Geo Maps for HDX Insight at Citrix Docs.

Gateway Insight

On the Analytics tab is Gateway Insight.

This feature displays the following details:

  • Gateway connection failures due to failed EPA scans, failed authentication, failed SSON, or failed application launches.
  • Bandwidth and Bytes Consumed for ICA and other applications accessed through Gateway.
  • # of users
  • Session Modes (clientless, VPN, ICA)
  • Client Operating Systems
  • Client Browsers

More details at Gateway Insight at Citrix Docs.

Security Insight

The Security Insight dashboard uses data from Application Firewall to display Threat Index (criticality of attack), Safety Index (how securely NetScaler is configured), and Actionable Information. More info at Security Insight at Citrix Docs.

Troubleshooting

Citrix CTX215130 HDX Insight Diagnostics and Troubleshooting Guide: Syslog messages; Error counters; Troubleshooting checklist, Logs

Citrix Blog Post – NetScaler Insight Center – Tips, Troubleshooting and Upgrade

See docs.citrix.com Troubleshooting Tips. Here are sample issues covered in docs.citrix.com:

  • Can’t see records on Insight Center dashboard
  • ICA RTT metrics are incorrect
  • Can’t add NetScaler appliance to inventory
  • Geo maps not displaying

Upgrade NetScaler MAS

  1. Download the latest Upgrade Pack for NetScaler Management and Analytics System.
  2. Login to NetScaler MAS.
  3. On the System tab, on the left, click the System Administration node.
  4. On the right, in the right pane, click Upgrade NetScaler MAS.
  5. Browse to the Software Image Upgrade Pack .tgz file and click OK.
  6. Click Yes to reboot the appliance.
  7. After it reboots, login. The new firmware version will be displayed in the top right corner.

EUC Weekly Digest – June 4, 2016

Last Modified: Sep 2, 2018 @ 7:53 am

Leave a comment

Here are some EUC items I found interesting last week:

XenApp/XenDesktop

XenMobile

NetScaler

VMware

Microsoft

Director 7.9

Last Modified: Nov 7, 2020 @ 6:35 am

30 Comments

Navigation

Director on Standalone Server

If you are installing Director 7.9 on a standalone server, see Citrix CTX142260 Installing or Upgrading to Citrix Director 7.6.200

  1. If you intend to install Director on a standalone server, start with running AutoSelect.exe from the XenApp/XenDesktop 7.9 media.
  2. On the right, click Citrix Director.
  3. In the Licensing Agreement page, select I have read, understand, and accept the terms and click Next.
  4. In the Core Components page, click Next.
  5. In the Delivery Controller page, it will ask you for the location of one Controller in the farm. Only enter one Controller per farm.
  6. In the Features page, click Next.
  7. In the Firewall page, click Next.
  8. In the Summary page, click Install.
  9. In the Finish page, click Finish.
  10. In IIS Manager, go to Default Web Site > Director > Application Settings, find Service.AutoDiscoveryAddresses and make sure it points to a Controller and not to localhost.

  11. If you built multiple Director servers, use NetScaler to load balance them.

The only new feature in Director 7.9 is Logon Duration improvements.
localized image

Director Grooming

If XenDesktop is not Platinum Edition then all historical Director data is groomed at 7 days.

For XenDesktop/XenApp Platinum Edition, by default, most of the historical Director data is groomed at 90 days. This can be adjusted up to 367 days by running a PowerShell cmdlet.

  1. On a XenDesktop Delivery Controller, run PowerShell and run asnp Citrix.*

  2. Run Get-MonitorConfiguration to see the current grooming settings.
  3. Run Set-MonitorConfiguration to change the grooming settings.

Director Single Sign-on

You can configure Director 7.9 to support Integrated Windows Authentication (Single Sign-on). Note: there seem to be issues when not connecting from the local machine or when connecting through a load balancer.

  1. Run IIS Manager. You can launch it from Server Manager (Tools menu) or from the Start Menu or by running inetmgr.
  2. On the left, expand Sites, expand Default Web Site, and click Director.
  3. In the middle, double-click Authentication in the IIS section.
  4. Right-click Windows Authentication and Enable it.
  5. Right-click Anonymous Authentication and Disable it.
  6. Pass-through auth won’t work from another computer until you set the http SPN for the Director server. See Director 7.7 Windows Authentication not working with NS LB at discussions.citrix.com.
  7. If Director is not installed on a Controller then you’ll need to configure Kerberos delegation.
  8. If you are load balancing Director then additional config is required. See Director 7.7 Windows Authentication not working with NS LB at discussions.citrix.com for more info.
    1. Create an AD service account that will be used as the Director’s ApplicationPoolIdentity.
    2. Create SPN and link it to the service account. 
      setspn -S http/loadbalanced_URL domain\user
    3. Trust the user account for delegation to any service (Kerberos only) (trust the Director servers for delegation is not necessary in this case). You have to create the SPN before you can do this step.
    4. In IIS manager, on the Application Pools (Director), specify the Identity as user we have created in step 1.
    5. In IIS manager, select Default Web Site and open the Configuration Editor.
    6. Use the drop-down to navigate to the following section:

      system.webServer/security/authentication/windowsAuthentication
    7. Set useAppPoolCredentials = True and useKernelMode = False. Click Apply on the top right.

  9. When you connect to Director you will be automatically logged in. You can change the login account by first logging off.
  10. Then change the drop-down to User credentials.

Director – Multiple XenDesktop Sites

  1. Run IIS Manager. You can launch it from Server Manager (Tools menu) or from the Start Menu or by running inetmgr.
  2. On the left, expand Sites, expand Default Web Site, and click Director.
  3. In the middle pane, double-click Application Settings.
  4. Find the entry for Service.AutoDiscoveryAddresses and double-click it.
  5. If Director is installed on a Controller, localhost should already be entered.
  6. Add a comma and the NetBIOS name of one of the controllers in the 2nd XenDesktop Site (farm). Only enter one Controller name. If you have multiple Director servers, you can point each Director server to a different Controller in the 2nd XenDesktop Site (farm).
  7. According to Citrix CTX200543 Desktop Director Access Fails After XenDesktop 7.5 is Upgraded to 7.6, the addresses should be NetBIOS names, not FQDN. Click OK.

Director Alerts and Notifications

Director 7.8 and newer supports alert conditions and email notifications. This feature requires XenApp/XenDesktop to be licensed with Platinum Edition. See Citrix Blog Post Configuring & Managing Alerts and Notifications Using Director for more information.

An upcoming version of Director adds CPU, Memory, and ICT RTT alerts. Citrix Blog Post 7 New Categories in Director for Proactive Notifications & Alerts  💡

To configure alerts:

  1. While logged into Director, at the top of the page click the Alerts button.
  2. Switch to the Email Server Configuration tab.
  3. Enter your SMTP information and click Send Test Message. Then click Save.

  4. Switch to the Citrix Alerts Policy tab.
  5. There are three high-level categories of alerts: Site Policy, Delivery Group Policy, and Server OS Policy. Click whichever one you want to configure.
  6. Then click Create.
  7. Give the alert a name.
  8. On the bottom left, select a condition and enter thresholds.
  9. On the bottom right, in the Notifications preferences section, click Add.
  10. Enter an email address and click Add.
  11. Click Save when done. Feel free to create more alerts and notifications.
  12. Citrix has an experimental Desktop Notification Tool. See Citrix Blog Post Desktop Notification Tool For Citrix XenDesktop.
    ablogpic2

Citrix Blog Post Integrate Director Notifications into Custom Apps with Octoblu: Director Alerts can be configured with a WebHook that allows Octoblu to perform actions when a Director Alert occurs.   💡

Set-MonitorNotificationPolicy –Uid 5 –Webhook <Webhook URL>

Director – SCOM Integration

Director 7.8 and newer can display alerts from System Center Operations Manager 2012 R2. This feature requires XenApp/XenDesktop Platinum Edition.

  1. See Configure SCOM integration at docs.citrix.com for detailed configuration instructions. Also see Marius Sandbu Integrating Citrix XenDesktop 7.7 and System Center Operations Manager.
  2. If Director server or System Center Operations Manager server is 2008 R2, then login to the 2008 R2 server, open PowerShell and run Enable-PSRemoting. Yes to everything. This is not needed on Windows Server 2012 R2 servers.
  3. On Director 7.8 server, run C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\tools\DirectorConfig.exe /configscom
  4. FYI, the DirectorConfig.exe /configscom command enables the following features on the Director server: /FeatureName:IIS-NetFxExtensibility45 /FeatureName:IIS-ASPNET45 /FeatureName:WCF-HTTP-Activation45
  5. FYI, the System Center Operations Manager server is listed in IIS Manager at Default Web Site > Director > Application Settings (middle pane) > Connector.SCOM.ManagementServer.
  6. On the System Center Operations Manager server, edit Remote Management Users local group and add Citrix Admins and other Director users.
  7. In System Center Operations Manager Console, go to Administration > User Roles and edit Operations Manager Operators. Add the Citrix Admins and other Director users.
  8. See Citrix Blog Post SCOM Alerts in Citrix Director for information on how to view System Center Operations Manager alerts in Director.

Director Tweaks

Prepopulate the domain field

From http://www.xenblog.dk/?p=33: On the Controllers having the Director role installed, locate and edit the ‘LogOn.aspx’ file. By default you can find it at “C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\Logon.aspx”

In line 450 you will have the following. To find the line, search for ID=”Domain”. Note: onblur and onfocus attributes were added in newer versions of Director.

<asp:TextBox ID="Domain" runat="server" CssClass="text-box" onfocus="showIndicator(this);" onblur="hideIndicator(this);"></asp:TextBox>

In the ID=”Domain” element, insert a Text attribute and set it to your domain name. Don’t change or add any other attributes. Save the file.

<asp:TextBox ID="Domain" runat="server" Text="Corp" CssClass="text-box" onfocus="showIndicator(this);" onblur="hideIndicator(this);"></asp:TextBox>

This will prepopulate the domain field text box with your domain name and still allow the user to change it, if that should be required. Note: this only seems to work if Single Sign-on is disabled.

Session timeout

By default the idle time session limit of the Director is 245 min. If you wish to change the timeout, here is how to do it.

  1. Log on to the Director Server as an administrator
  2. Open the ‘IIS Manager’
  3. Browse to ‘SitesDefault Web SiteDirector’ in the left hand pane.
  4. Open ‘Session State’ in the right hand pane
  5. Change the ‘Time-out (in minutes)’ value under ‘Cookie Settings’
  6. Click ‘Apply’ in the Actions list

SSL Check

From http://euc.consulting/blog/citrix-desktop-director-2-1: If you are not securing Director with an SSL certificate you will get this error at the logon screen.

To stop this:

  1. Log on to the Director Server as an administrator
  2. Open the ‘IIS Manager’
  3. Browse to ‘SitesDefault Web SiteDirector’ in the left hand pane.
  4. Open ‘Application Settings’ in the right hand pane
  5. Set EnableSslCheck to false.

Disable Activity Manager

From Disable the visibility of running applications in the Activity Manager in Advanced Configuration at docs.citrix.com: By default, the Activity Manager in Director displays a list of all the running applications and the Windows description in the title bars of any open applications for the user’s session. This information can be viewed by all administrators that have access to the Activity Manager feature in Director. For Delegated Administrator roles, this includes Full administrator, Delivery Group administrator, and Help Desk Administrator.

To protect the privacy of users and the applications they are running, you can disable the Applications tab from listing running applications.

  • On the VDA, modify the registry key located at HKLM\Software\Citrix\Director\TaskManagerDataDisplayed. By default, the key is set to 1. Change the value to 0, which means the information will not be displayed in the Activity Manager.
  • On the server with Director installed, modify the setting that controls the visibility of running applications. By default, the value is true, which allows visibility of running applications in the Applications Change the value to false, which disables visibility. This option affects only the Activity Manager in Director, not the VDA. Modify the value of the following setting:
    UI.TaskManager.EnableApplications = false

Large Active Directory / Multiple Forests

From CTX133013 Desktop Director User Account Search Process is Slow or Fails: By default, all the Global Catalogs for the Active Directory Forest are searched using Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). In a large Active Directory environment, this query can take some time or even time out.

If multiple forests, see Citrix Blog Post Using Citrix Director in a MultiForest Environment.  💡

  1. In Information Server (IIS) Management, under the Desktop Director site, select Application Settings and add a new value called Connector.ActiveDirectory.ForestSearch. Set it to False. This disables searching any domain except the user’s domain and the server’s domain.
  2. To search more domains, add the searchable domain or domains in the Connector.ActiveDirectory.Domains field.

Site Groups

From Citrix Blog Post Citrix Director 7.6 Deep-Dive Part 4: Troubleshooting Machines:

If there are a large number of machines, the Director administrator can now configure site groups to perform machine search so that they can narrow down searching for the machine inside a site group. The site groups can be created on the Director server by running the configuration tool via command line by running the command:

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\tools\DirectorConfig.exe /createsitegroups

Then provide a site group name and IP address of the delivery controller of the site to create the site group.

Director – Saved Filters

From Scott Osborne and Jarian Gibson at Citrix Discussions: In Director, you can create a filter and save it.

The saved filter is then accessible from the Filters menu structure.

The saved filters are stored on each Director server at C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Director\UserData. Observations:

  • Each user has their own saved filters.
  • The saved filters are not replicated across Director servers. You can schedule a robocopy script to do this automatically.
  • When upgrading Director, the saved filters are deleted?

Director – Custom Reports

The Monitoring database contains more data than is exposed in Director. To view this data, the Monitoring service has an OData Data Feed that can be queried.

Go to Citrix Blog Post Obtain XenDesktop Custom report through Citrix Director and download the tool. Once installed, in Director, go to Trends > CustomReport to construct an OData query.


Use Director

The only new feature in Director 7.9 is Logon Duration improvements.
localized image

Citrix Blog Post Interactive Session of Logon Duration in Citrix Director – Explained: Interactive Session Duration = Desktop Ready Event Timestamp (EventId 1000 on VDA) – User Profile Loaded Event Timestamp (EventId 2 on VDA). More details in the Blog Post.  💡

Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) 7.9

Last Modified: Nov 7, 2020 @ 6:35 am

37 Comments

Navigation

💡 = Recently Updated

Hardware

  1. If vSphere 6, don’t use hardware version 11 unless you have NVIDIA GRID. VMware 2109650 – Video playback performance issue with hardware version 11 VMs in 2D mode
  2. For virtual desktops, give the virtual machine: 2+ vCPU and 2+ GB of RAM
  3. For Windows 2008 R2 RDSH, give the virtual machine 4 vCPU and 12-24 GB of RAM
  4. For Windows 2012 R2 RDSH, give the virtual machine 8 vCPU, and 24-48 GB of RAM
  5. Remove the floppy drive
  6. Remove any serial or LPT ports
  7. If vSphere:
    1. To reduce disk space, reserve memory. Memory reservations reduce or eliminate the virtual machine .vswp file.
    2. The NIC should be VMXNET3.
  8. If this VDA will boot from Provisioning Services:
    1. Give the VDA extra RAM for caching.
    2. Do not enable Memory Hot Plug
    3. For vSphere, the NIC must be VMXNET3.
    4. For vSphere, configure the CD-ROM to boot from IDE instead of SATA. SATA comes with VM hardware version 10. SATA won’t work with PvS.
  9. Install the latest version of drivers (e.g. VMware Tools).
    1. If Windows 7 on vSphere, don’t install the VMware SVGA driver. For more details, see CTX201804 Intermittent Connection Failures/Black Screen Issues When Connecting from Multi-Monitor Client Machines to Windows 7 VDA with VDA 7.x on vSphere/ESXi.

If vSphere, disable NIC Hotplug

  1. Users could use the systray icon to Eject the Ethernet Controller. Obviously this is bad.
  2. To disable this functionality, power off the virtual machine.
  3. Once powered off, right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
  4. On the VM Options tab, expand Advanced and then click Edit Configuration.
  5. Click Add Row.
  6. On the left, enter devices.hotplug. On the right, enter false.
  7. Then click OK a couple times to close the windows.
  8. The VM can then be powered on.

Windows Preparation

  1. If RDSH, disable IE Enhanced Security Config
  2. Optionally, go to Action Center (Windows 8.1 or 2012 R2) or Security and Maintenance (Windows 10) to disable User Account Control and enable SmartScreen .
  3. Run Windows Update.
  4. If Windows Firewall is enabled:
    1. Enable File Sharing so you can access the VDA remotely using SMB
    2. Enable COM+ Network Access and the three Remote Event Log rules so you can remotely manage the VDA.

  5. Add your Citrix Administrators group to the local Administrators group on the VDA.
  6. The Remote Desktop Services “Prompt for Password” policy prevents Single Sign-on to the Virtual Delivery Agent. Check registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services. If fPromptForPassword = 1 then you need to fix group policy. The following GPO setting will prevent Single Sign-on from working.
    Computer Configuration Policies Administrative templates Windows Components Remotes Desktop Services Remote desktop Session Host Security Always prompt for password upon connection
    Or set the registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\PorticaAutoLogon (DWORD) = 0x10.
  7. For Windows 7 VDAs that will use Personal vDisk, install Microsoft hotfix 2614892 – A computer stops responding because of a deadlock situation in the Mountmgr.sys driver. This hotfix solved a Personal vDisk Image update issue detailed at Citrix Discussions.
  8. If this VDA is Windows Server 2008 R2, request and install the Windows hotfixes recommended by Citrix CTX129229. Scroll down to see the list of recommended Microsoft hotfixes for Windows Server 2008 R2. Ignore the XenApp 6.x portions of the article. Also see https://www.carlstalhood.com/windows-server-2008-r2-post-sp1-hotfixes/.
  9. To remove the built-in apps in Windows 10, see Robin Hobo How to remove built-in apps in Windows 10 Enterprise.
  10. For Remote Assistance in Citrix Director, configure the GPO setting Computer Configuration | Policies | Administrative Templates | System | Remote Assistance | Offer Remote Assistance. See Jason Samuel – How to setup Citrix Director Shadowing with Remote Assistance using Group Policy for more details.
  11. If you intend to use Citrix’s SCOM Management Packs for XenApp/XenDesktop, make sure WinRM is enabled on the VDA by running winrm quickconfig.

Install Virtual Delivery Agent 7.9

  1. For virtual desktops, make sure you are logged into the console. The VDA won’t install if you are connected using RDP.
  2. Make sure 8.3 file name generation is not disabled. If so, see CTX131995 User Cannot Launch Application in Seamless Mode to fix the AppInit_DLLs registry keys.
  3. Make sure .NET Framework 4.5.1 is installed.

CLI Install:

Command Line Install Options are detailed at Install using the command line at Citrix Docs.

The Citrix Telemetry Service seems to cause problems. You can use the Command Line Installer to exclude Telemetry Service as detailed at VDA upgrade cmdlet at Citrix Discussions.

XenDesktopVDASetup.exe /quiet /noreboot /masterimage /Enable_HDX_PORTS /enable_framehawk_port /Enable_REAL_TIME_TRANSPORT /optimize /controllers "xdc01.corp.local xdc02.corp.local" /Exclude "Citrix Telemetry Service"

GUI Install:

  1. Go to the downloaded XenDesktop 7.9 (XenDesktop Platinum, XenDesktop Enterprise, XenApp Platinum, or XenApp Enterprise) .iso file and run AutoSelect.exe. Alternatively, you can download the standalone VDA package and run that instead.
  2. Click Start next to either XenApp or XenDesktop. The only difference is the product name displayed in the installation wizard.
  3. Click Virtual Delivery Agent for Windows Desktop OS or Windows Server OS depending on which type of VDA you are building.
  4. In the Environment page, select Create a Master Image and click Next.
  5. For virtual desktops, in the HDX 3D Pro page, click Next.
  6. In the Core Components page, if you don’t need Citrix Receiver installed on your VDA then uncheck the box. Click Next.
  7. In the Delivery Controller page, select Do it manually. Enter the FQDN of each Controller. Click Test connection. And then make sure you click Add. Click Next when done.
  8. In the Features page, click Next. If this is a virtual desktop, you can leave Personal vDisk unchecked now and enable it later.
  9. In the Firewall page, click Next.
  10. In the Summary page, click Install.
  11. For RDSH, click Close when you are prompted to restart.
  12. After the machine reboots twice, login and installation will continue.
  13. Note: NT SERVICE\CitrixTelemetryService needs permission to login as a service.
  14. In the Call Home page, click Connect, enter your MyCitrix credentials, and then click Next.

  15. In the Finish page, click Finish to restart the machine again.
  16. If 8.3 file name generation is disabled, see CTX131995 User Cannot Launch Application in Seamless Mode to fix the AppInit_DLLs registry keys.

Citrix Group Policy Logon Delay Workaround

Citrix Discussions Xenapp 7.9: Wait for local session manager: “I have a Xenapp 7.9 environment on Windows 2012 R2. When logging in through Citrix I got message “Wait for local session manager” for 20-30 seconds. When logging in to the server with RDS, I do not have to wait for this.”

“Add the following 2 registry keys to your 7.9 VDA server – then try connecting to it using ICA to see if the issue still occurs:

Add reg keys in “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Citrix\GroupPolicy”
Dword: “CacheGpoExpireInHours” – Value = 5-24 (# of Hours) ***start with value of 5***
Dword: “GpoCacheEnabled” – Value = 1

Restart the machine after adding these registry keys and attempt an ICA connection (at least twice) to see if that helps the Login delay.”

Controller Registration Port

Some environments will not accept the default port 80 for Virtual Delivery Agent registration. To change the port, do the following on the Virtual Delivery Agent:

  1. Open Programs and Features.
  2. Find Citrix Virtual Delivery Agent and click Change.
  3. Click Customize Virtual Delivery Agent Settings.
  4. Edit the Delivery Controllers and click Next.
  5. On the Configure Delivery Controller page, change the port number and click Next.
  6. In the Summary page, click Reconfigure.
  7. In the Finish Reconfiguration page, click Finish.
  8. You must also change the VDA registration port on the Controllers by running BrokerService.exe /VDAPort.

Controller Registration – Verify

  1. If you restart the Virtual Delivery Agent machine or restart the Citrix Desktop Service…
  2. In Windows Logs Application log, you should see an event 1012 from Citrix Desktop Service saying that it successfully registered with a controller. If you don’t see this then you’ll need to fix the ListOfDDCs registry key.
  3. You can also run Citrix’s Health Assistant on the VDA.

 Profile Management 5.4.1

Warning: If you are upgrading and have existing Windows 2012 R2 profiles based on the !CTX_OSNAME! variable, see http://discussions.citrix.com/topic/374111-psa-upm-54-ctx-osname-server-2012-value-change/ for why your profiles might stop working.

  1. Go to the downloaded Profile Management 5.4.1 and run profilemgt_x64.msi.
  2. In the Welcome to the Citrix Profile Management Setup Wizard page, click Next.
  3. In the End-User License Agreement page, check the box next to I accept the terms in the License Agreement and click Next.
  4. In the Destination Folder page, click Next.
  5. In the Ready to install Citrix Profile Management page, click Install.
  6. If you see Files in Use, click OK.
  7. Click OK to continue the installation.
  8. In the Completed the Citrix Profile Management Setup Wizard page, click Finish.
  9. Click Yes when prompted to restart.
  10. UPM 5.4.1 breaks Logon Duration in Citrix Director. To fix it, run the following commands: 
    C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\installutil.exe "C:\Program Files\Citrix\Virtual Desktop Agent\upmWmiMetrics.dll"

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\installutil.exe "C:\Program Files\Citrix\Virtual Desktop Agent\upmWmiAdmin.dll"


  11. See the Profile Management page for configuration instructions.

Citrix PDF Printer 7.8.0

This tool is only used by Receiver for HTML5.

  1. Go to the downloaded Receiver for HTML5 Citrix PDF Printer 7.8.0 (under Additional Components) and run CitrixPDFPrinter64.msi.
  2. In the Please read the Citrix PDF printer License Agreement page, check the box next to I accept the terms and click Install.
  3. In the Completed the Citrix PDF Universal Driver Setup Wizard page, click Finish.
  4. In Programs and Features, it is shown as version 7.8.0.10.
  5. Configure a Citrix Policy to enable the PDF printer. The setting is called Auto-create PDF Universal Printer.

Framehawk Configuration

To enable Framehawk, see https://www.carlstalhood.com/citrix-policy-settings/#framehawkconfig

Remote Desktop Licensing Configuration

On 2012 R2 RDSH, the only way to configure Remote Desktop Licensing is using group policy (local or domain). This procedure also works for 2008 R2 RDSH. This procedure is not needed on virtual desktops.

  1. For local group policy, run gpedit.msc.
  2. Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Licensing.
  3. Double-click Use the specified Remote Desktop license servers. Change it to Enabled and enter the names of the RDS Licensing Servers (typically installed on XenDesktop Controllers). Click OK.
  4. Double-click Set the Remote Desktop licensing mode. Change it to Enabled and select Per User. Click OK.
  5. In Server Manager, open the Tools menu, expand Terminal Services and click RD Licensing Diagnoser.
  6. The Diagnoser should find the license server and indicate the licensing mode. It’s OK if there are no licenses installed on the Remote Desktop License Server.

Several people in Citrix Discussions reported the following issue: If you see a message about RD Licensing Grace Period has expired even though RD Licensing is properly configured, see Eric Verdumen No remote Desktop Licence Server availible on RD Session Host server 2012. The solution was to delete the REG_BINARY in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\RCM\GracePeriod only leaving the default. You must take ownership and give admin users full control to be able to delete this value.

C: Drive Permissions

This section is more important for shared VDAs like Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 2012 R2.

The default permissions allow users to store files on the C: drive in places other than their profile.

  1. Open the Properties dialog box for C:.
  2. On the Security tab, click Advanced.
  3. Highlight the line containing Users and Create Folders and click Remove.
  4. Highlight the line containing Users and Special and click Remove. Click OK.
  5. Click Yes to confirm the permissions change.
  6. If you see any of these Error Applying Security windows, click Continue.
  7. Click OK to close the C: drive properties.

Pagefile

If this image will be converted to a Provisioning Services vDisk, then you must ensure the pagefile is smaller than the cache disk. For example, if you allocate 20 GB of RAM to your Remote Desktop Session Host, and if the cache disk is only 15 GB, then Windows will have a default pagefile size of 20 GB and Provisioning Services will be unable to move it to the cache disk. This causes Provisioning Services to cache to server instead of caching to your local cache disk (or RAM).

  1. Open System. In 2012 R2, you can right-click the Start button and click System.
  2. Click Advanced system settings.
  3. On the Advanced tab, click the top Settings button.
  4. On the Advanced tab, click Change.
  5. Either turn off the pagefile or set the pagefile to be smaller than the cache disk. Don’t leave it set to System managed size. Click OK several times.

Direct Access Users

When Citrix Virtual Delivery Agent is installed on a machine, non-administrators can no longer RDP to the machine. A new local group called Direct Access Users is created on each Virtual Delivery Agent. Add your non-administrator RDP users to this local group so they can RDP directly to the machine.

Windows Profiles v3/v4/v5/v6

Roaming Profiles are compatible only between the following client and server operating system pairs. The profile version is also listed.

  • v6 = Windows 10 (summer 2016+) and Windows Server 2016
  • v5 = Windows 10 (before summer 2016)
  • v4 = Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2
  • v3 = Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012
  • v2 = Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
  • v2 = Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

Windows 8.1 and 2012 R2 don’t properly set the profile version. To fix this, ensure update rollup 2887595 is installed. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2890783. After you apply this update, you must create a registry key before you restart the computer.

  1. Run regedit.
  2. Locate and then tap or click the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlset\Services\ProfSvc\Parameters
  3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then tap or click DWORD Value.
  4. Type UseProfilePathExtensionVersion.
  5. Press and hold or right-click UseProfilePathExtensionVersion, and then tap or click Modify.
  6. In the Value data box, type 1, and then tap or click OK.
  7. Exit Registry Editor.

Then, Windows 8.1 creates a user profile and appends the suffix “.v4” to the profile folder name to differentiate it from version 2 of the profile in Windows 7 and version 3 of the profile in Windows 8.

Registry

HDX Flash

From Citrix Knowledgebase article CTX139939 – Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 – Citrix Known Issues: The registry key value IEBrowserMaximumMajorVersion is queried by the HDX Flash service to check for maximum Internet Explorer version that HDX Flash supports. For Flash Redirection to work with Internet Explorer 11 set the registry key value IEBrowserMaximumMajorVersion to 11 on the machine where HDX flash service is running. In case of XenDesktop it would be the machine where VDA is installed.

  • Key = HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\HdxMediaStreamForFlash\Server\PseudoServer
    • Value = IEBrowserMaximumMajorVersion (DWORD) = 00000011 (Decimal)

From Citrix Discussions: Add the DWORD ‘FlashPlayerVersionComparisonMask=0′ on the VDA under HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Citrix\HdxMediaStreamForFlash\Server\PseudoServer.  This disables the Flash major version checking between the VDA and Client Device.

Published Explorer

This section applies if you intend to publish apps from this VDA.

From Citrix Knoweldgebase article CTX128009 – Explorer.exe Fails to Launch: When publishing the seamless explorer.exe application, the session initially begins to connect as expected. After the loading, the dialog box disappears and the explorer application fails to appear. On the VDA, use the following registry change to set the length of time a client session waits before disconnecting the session:

  • Key = HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\wfshell\TWI
    • Value = LogoffCheckerStartupDelayInSeconds (DWORD) = 10 (Hexadecimal)

Mfaphook – 8.3 File Names

  1. Open a command prompt.
  2. Switch to C:\ by running cd /d C:\
  3. Run dir /x program*
  4. If you don’t see PROGRA~1 then 8.3 is disabled. This will break Citrix.
  5. If 8.3 is disabled, open regedit and go to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows.
  6. On the right is AppInit_DLLs. Edit it and remove the path in front of MFAPHOOK64.DLL.


Logon Disclaimer Window Size

From Xenapp 7.8 – Session Launch Security/Warning Login Banner at Citrix Discussions: If your logon disclaimer window has scroll bars, set the following registry values:

HKLM\Software\Wow6432node\Citrix\CtxHook\AppInit_DLLS\Multiple Monitor Hook\LogonUIWidth = DWORD:300
HKLM\Software\Wow6432node\Citrix\CtxHook\AppInit_DLLS\Multiple Monitor Hook\LogonUIHeight = DWORD:200

Login Timeout

Citrix CTX203760 VDI Session Launches Then Disappears: XenDesktop, by default, only allows 180 seconds to complete a logon operation. The timeout can be increased by setting the following:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Citrix\PortICA

Add a new DWORD AutoLogonTimeout and set the value to decimal 240 or higher (up to 3600).

Also see Citrix Discussions Machines in “Registered” State, but VM closes after “Welcome” screen.

Receiver for HTML5 Enhanced Clipboard

From About Citrix Receiver for Chrome 1.9 at docs.citrix.com: To enable enhanced clipboard support, set registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\wfshell\Virtual Clipboard\Additional Formats\HTML Format\Name=”HTML Format”. Create any missing registry keys. This applies to both virtual desktops and Remote Desktop Session Hosts.

4K Monitors

Citrix CTX201696 – Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp – Support for Monitors Including 4K Resolution and Multi-monitors: Up to eight 4K monitors are supported with the Std-VDA and RDS VDA irrespective of underlying GPU support, provided the required policies and/or registry keys are correctly configured. Currently the Std-VDA for XenDesktop and RDS-VDA for XenApp does not support resolutions higher than 4094 in any dimension.

Framehawk currently does not support 4K monitors. At the time of writing, the number of monitors supported is 1, the use of more monitors will cause the graphics mode to change from Framehawk to Thinwire to support multi-monitor.  The maximum resolution supported by Framehawk is currently 2048×2048.

From CTX200257 – Screen Issues Connecting to 4K Resolution Monitors: Symptom: A blank or corrupt screen is displayed when connecting to Windows 7 or 8.1 Standard XenDesktop Virtual Delivery Agents on a client which has one or more 4K resolution monitors.

  1. Calculate the video memory that is required for 4K monitor using the following formula:
    Sum of total monitors (Width * height * 4 * X) where width and height are resolution of the monitor.
    X = 2 if VDA is Windows 7 OR X = 3 if VDA is Windows 88.1
    Suppose a Windows 7 VDA is connecting to a client that has dual 4K monitors (3840×2160), then video buffer should be: (3840 x 2160 x 4 x 2) + (3840 x 2160 x 4 x 2) = ~132MB
  2. CTX115637 Citrix Session Graphics Memory Reference describes how multi-monitor resolution is determined.  💡
  3. Open the registry (regedit) and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\vd3v
  4. Increase the value of “MaxVideoMemoryBytes” REG_DWORD value to the above calculated memory.
  5. Reboot the VDA.

Citrix Policies also control graphics performance.

Legacy Client Drive Mapping

Citrix Knowledgebase article How to Enable Legacy Client Drive Mapping Format on XenApp: Citrix Client Drive Mapping no longer uses drive letters and instead they appear as local disks. This is similar to RDP drive mapping.

The old drive letter method can be enabled by setting the registry value:

  • Key = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\UncLinks (create the key)
    • Value = UNCEnabled (DWORD) = 0

When you reconnect, the client drives will be mapped as drive letters (starts with V: and goes backwards).

Print Driver for Non-Windows Clients

This section applies to Windows 2012 R2, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 VDAs.

From Mac Client Printer Mapping Fix for Windows 8/8.1 and Windows Server 2012/2012R2. By default, Non-Windows clients cannot map printers due to a missing print driver on the VDA machine.

  1. Requirements:
    • Internet Access
    • Windows Update service enabled
  2. Click Start and run Devices and Printers.
  3. In the Printers section, highlight a local printer (e.g. Microsoft XPS Document Writer). Then in the toolbar click Print server properties.
  4. Switch to the Drivers tab. Click Change Driver Settings.
  5. Then click Add.
  6. In the Welcome to the Add Printer Driver Wizard page, click Next.
  7. In the Processor Selection page, click Next.
  8. In the Printer Driver Selection page, click Windows Update. The driver we need won’t be in the list until you click this button. Internet access is required.
  9. Once Windows Update is complete, highlight HP on the left and then select HP Color LaserJet 2800 Series PS (Microsoft) on the right. Click Next.
  10. In the Completing the Add Printer Driver Wizard page, click Finish.
  11. Repeat these instructions to install the following additional drivers:
    • HP LaserJet Series II
    • HP Color LaserJet 4500 PCL 5

SSL for VDA

If you intend to use HTML5 Receiver internally, install certificates on the VDAs so the WebSockets (and ICA) connection will be encrypted. Internal HTML5 Receivers will not accept clear text WebSockets. External users don’t have this problem since they are SSL-proxied through NetScaler Gateway. Notes:

  • Each Virtual Delivery Agent needs a machine certificate that matches the machine name. This is feasible for a small number of persistent VDAs. For non-persistent VDAs, you’ll need some automatic means for creating machine certificates every time they reboot.
  • As detailed in the following procedure, use PowerShell on the Controller to enable SSL for the Delivery Group. This forces SSL for every VDA in the Delivery Group, which means every VDA in the Delivery Group must have SSL certificates installed.

The Citrix blog post How To Secure ICA Connections in XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 using SSL has a method for automatically provisioning certificates for pooled virtual desktops by enabling certificate auto-enrollment and setting up a task that runs after the certificate has been enrolled. Unfortunately this does not work for Remote Desktop Session Host.

The following instructions can be found at Configure SSL on a VDA using the PowerShell script at docs.citrix.com.

  1. On the VDA machine, run mmc.exe.
  2. Add the Certificates snap-in.
  3. Point it to Local Computer.
  4. Request a certificate from your internal Certificate Authority. You can use either the Computer template or the Web Server template.

    You can also use group policy to enable Certificate Auto-Enrollment for the VDA computers.
  5. Browse to the XenApp/XenDesktop 7.9 ISO. In the Support\Tools\SslSupport folder, shift+right-click the Enable-VdaSSL.ps1 script and click Copy as path.
  6. Run PowerShell as administrator (elevated).
  7. Run the command Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted. Enter Y to approve.
  8. In the PowerShell prompt, type in an ampersand (&), and a space.
  9. Right-click the PowerShell prompt to paste in the path copied earlier.
  10. At the end of the path, type in -Enable
  11. If there’s only one certificate on this machine, press Enter.
  12. If there are multiple certificates, you’ll need to specify the thumprint of the certificate you want to use. Open the Certificates snap-in, open the properties of the machine certificate you want to use, and copy the Thumbprint from the Details tab.

    In the PowerShell prompt, at the end of the command, enter ?CertificateThumbPrint, add a space, and type quotes (").
    Right-click the PowerShell prompt to paste the thumbprint.
    Type quotes (") at the end of the thumbprint. Then remove all spaces from the thumbprint. The thumbprint needs to be wrapped in quotes.
  13. If this VDA machine has a different service already listening on 443 (e.g. IIS), then the VDA needs to use a different port for SSL connections. At the end of the command in the PowerShell prompt, enter -SSLPort 444 or any other unused port.
  14. Press <Enter> to run the Enable-VdaSSL.ps1 script.
  15. Press <Y> twice to configure the ACLs and Firewall.
  16. You might have to reboot before the settings take effect.
  17. Login to a Controller and run PowerShell as Administrator (elevated).
  18. Run the command asnp Citrix.*
  19. Enter the command: 
    Get-BrokerAccessPolicyRule -DesktopGroupName '<delivery-group-name>' | Set-BrokerAccessPolicyRule ?HdxSslEnabled $true

    where <delivery-group-name> is the name of the Delivery Group containing the VDAs.

  20. You can run Get-BrokerAccessPolicyRule -DesktopGroupName '<delivery-group-name>' to verify that HDX SSL is enabled.
  21. Also run the following command: 
    Set-BrokerSite –DnsResolutionEnabled $true

You should now be able to connect to the VDA using the HTML5 Receiver from internal machines.

Anonymous Accounts

If you intend to publish apps anonymously then follow this section.

  1. Anonymous accounts are created locally on the VDAs. When XenDesktop creates Anon accounts it gives them an idle time as specified at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\AnonymousUserIdleTime. The default is 10 minutes. Adjust as desired.
  2. You can pre-create the Anon accounts on the VDA by running “C:\Program Files\Citrix\ICAConfigTool\CreateAnonymousUsersApp.exe”. If you don’t run this tool then Virtual Delivery Agent will create them automatically when users log in.
  3. You can see the local Anon accounts by opening Computer Management, expanding System Tools, expand Local Users and Groups and clicking Users.
  4. If you open one of the accounts, on the Sessions tab, notice that idle timeout defaults to 10 minutes. Feel free to change it.

Group Policy for Anonymous Users

Since Anonymous users are local accounts on each Virtual Delivery Agent, domain-based GPOs will not apply. To work around this limitation, you’ll need to edit the local group policy on each Virtual Delivery Agent.

  1. On the Virtual Delivery Agent, run gpedit.exe.
  2. Open the File menu and click Add/Remove Snap-in.
  3. Highlight Group Policy Object Editor and click Add to move it to the right.
  4. In the Welcome to the Group Policy Wizard page, click Browse.
  5. On the Users tab, select Non-Administrators.
  6. Click Finish.
  7. Now you can configure group policy to lockdown sessions for anonymous users. Since this is a local group policy, you’ll need to repeat the group policy configuration on every Virtual Delivery Agent image. Also, Group Policy Preferences is not available in local group policy.

Antivirus

Install antivirus using your normal procedure. Instructions vary for each Antivirus product.

Microsoft’s virus scanning recommendations (e.g. exclude group policy files) – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822158.

Citrix’s Recommended Antivirus Exclusions

Citrix Blog Post Citrix Recommended Antivirus Exclusions: the goal here is to provide you with a consolidated list of recommended antivirus exclusions for your Citrix virtualization environment focused on the key processes, folders, and files that we have seen cause issues in the field:  💡

  • Set real-time scanning to scan local drives only and not network drives
  • Disable scan on boot
  • Remove any unnecessary antivirus related entries from the Run key
  • Exclude the pagefile(s) from being scanned
  • Exclude Windows event logs from being scanned
  • Exclude IIS log files from being scanned

See the Blog Post for exclusions for each Citrix component/product including: StoreFront, VDA, Controller, and Provisioning Services. The Blog Post also has links to additional KB articles on antivirus.

Symantec

Symantec links:

Non-persistent session hosts:

After you have installed the Symantec Endpoint Protection client and disabled Tamper Protection, open the registry editor on the base image.

  1. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\SMC.
  2. Create a new key named Virtualization.
  3. Under Virtualization, create a key of type DWORD named IsNPVDIClient and set it to a value of 1.

To configure the purge interval for offline non-persistent session host clients:

  1. In the Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager console, on the Admin page, click Domains.
  2. In the Domains tree, click the desired domain.
  3. Under Tasks, click Edit Domain Properties.
  4. On the Edit Domain Properties > General tab, check the Delete non-persistent VDI clients that have not connected for specified time checkbox and change the days value to the desired number. The Delete clients that have not connected for specified time option must be checked to access the option for offline non-persistent VDI clients.
  5. Click OK.

Make the following changes to the Communications Settings policy:

  1. Configure clients to download policies and content in Pull mode
  2. Disable the option to Learn applications that run on the client computers
  3. Set the Heartbeat Interval to no less than one hour
  4. Enable Download Randomization, set the Randomization window for 4 hours

Make the following changes to the Virus and Spyware Protection policy:

  1. Disable all scheduled scans
  2. Disable the option to “Allow startup scans to run when users log on” (This is disabled by default)
  3. Disable the option to “Run an ActiveScan when new definitions Arrive”

Avoid using features like application learning which send information to the SEPM and rely on client state to optimize traffic flow

Linked clones:

To configure Symantec Endpoint Protection to use Virtual Image Exception to bypass the scanning of base image files

  1. On the console, open the appropriate Virus and Spyware Protection policy.
  2. Under Advanced Options, click Miscellaneous.
  3. On the Virtual Images tab, check the options that you want to enable.
  4. Click OK

 

Trend Micro

Citrix CTX136680 – Slow Server Performance After Trend Micro Installation. Citrix session hosts experience slow response and performance more noticeable while users try to log in to the servers. At some point the performance of the servers is affected, resulting in issues with users logging on and requiring the server to be restarted. This issue is more noticeable on mid to large session host infrastructures.

Trend Micro has provided a registry fix for this type of issue. Create the following registry on all the affected servers. Add new DWORD Value as:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TmFilterParameters] “DisableCtProcCheck”=dword:00000001

Trend Micro Links:

Optimize Performance

VDA Optimizer

Installation of the VDA might have already done this but there’s no harm in doing it again. This tool is only available if you installed VDA in Master Image mode.

  1. On the master VDA, go to C:\Program Files\Citrix\PvsVm\TargetOSOptimizer and run TargetOSOptimizer.exe.
  2. Then click OK. Notice that it disables Windows Update.

RDSH

Citrix CTX131577 XenApp 6.x (Windows 2008 R2) – Optimization Guide is a document with several registry modifications that are supposed to improve server performance. Ignore the XenApp 6 content and instead focus on the Windows content.

Citrix CTX131995 User Cannot Launch Application in Seamless Mode in a Provisioning Services Server when XenApp Optimization Best Practices are Applied. Do not enable NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation

Citrix CTX213540 Unable To View Printers In Devices And Printers Win 2012 R2 – don’t disable Device Setup Manager Service

Norskale has Windows 2008 R2 Remote Desktop and XenApp 6 Tuning Tips Update.

Windows 7

Microsoft has compiled a list of links to various optimization guides.

It’s a common practice to optimize a Windows 7 virtual machine (VM) template (or image) specifically for VDI use. Usually such customizations include the following.

  • Minimize the footprint, e.g. disable some features and services that are not required when the OS is used in “stateless” or “non-persistent” fashion. This is especially true for disk-intensive workloads since disk I/O is a common bottleneck for VDI deployment. (Especially if there are multiple VMs with the same I/O patterns that are timely aligned).
  • Lock down user interface (e.g. optimize for specific task workers).

With that said the certain practices are quite debatable and vary between actual real-world deployments. Exact choices whether to disable this or that particular component depend on customer requirements and VDI usage patterns. E.g. in personalized virtual desktop scenario there’s much less things to disable since the machine is not completely “stateless”. Some customers rely heavily on particular UI functions and other can relatively easily trade them off for the sake of performance or standardization (thus enhance supportability and potentially security). This is one of the primary reasons why Microsoft doesn’t publish any “VDI Tuning” guide officially.

Though there are a number of such papers and even tools published either by the community or third parties. This Wiki page is aimed to serve as a consolidated and comprehensive list of such resources.

Daniel Ruiz XenDesktop Windows 7 Optimization and GPO’s Settings –

Microsoft Whitepaper Performance Optimization Guidelines for Windows 7 Desktop Virtualization

Windows 10 / Windows 8.1 / Windows 2012 R2

Optimization Notes:

  • If this machine is provisioned using Provisioning Services, do not disable the Shadow Copy services.
  • Windows 8 detects VDI and automatically disables SuperFetch. No need to disable it yourself.
  • Windows 8 automatically disables RSS and TaskOffload if not supported by the NIC.

Seal and Shut Down

If this session host will be a master image in a Machine Creation Services or Provisioning Services catalog, after the master is fully prepared (including applications), do the following:

  1. Go to the properties of the C: drive and run Disk Cleanup.
  2. On the Tools tab, click Optimize to defrag the drive.
    `
  3. Run slmgr.vbs /dlv and make sure it is licensed with KMS and has at least one rearm remaining. It is no longer necessary to manually rearm licensing. XenDesktop will do it automatically.
  4. Run Delprof2 to clean up local profiles. Get it from http://helgeklein.com/download/.
  5. Machine Creation Services and Provisioning Services require DHCP.

Session hosts commonly have DHCP reservations.

  • Shut down the master image. You can now use Studio or Provisioning Services to create a catalog of linked clones.

Troubleshooting – Graphics

If Windows 7 on vSphere, don’t install the VMware SVGA driver. For more details, see CTX201804 Intermittent Connection Failures/Black Screen Issues When Connecting from Multi-Monitor Client Machines to Windows 7 VDA with VDA 7.x on vSphere/ESXi.

For an explanation of Citrix’s graphics policy settings, see A graphical deep dive into XenDesktop 7 and What’s new with HDX display in XenDesktop & XenApp 7.x?

Citrix Blog post – Optimising the performance of HDX 3D Pro – Lessons from the field

From Citrix Tips – Black Screen Issues with 7.x VDA: Users would make a successful ICA connection but the screen would stay totally black.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\vbdenum]

  • “Start”=dword:00000001
  • “MaxVideoMemoryBytes”=dword:06000000
  • “Group”= “EMS”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\vd3d]

  • “MaxVideoMemoryBytes”=dword:00000000

From Citrix Knowledgebase article CTX200257 – Screen Issues Connecting to 4K Resolution Monitors in DCR Mode:

  1. Calculate the video memory that is required for 4K monitor using the following formula:
    Sum of total monitors (Width * height * 4 * X) where width and height are resolution of the monitor.
    X = 2 if VDA is Windows 7 OR X = 3 if VDA is Windows 88.110
    Example: Suppose a Windows 7 VDA is connecting to a client that has dual 4K monitors (3840×2160), then video buffer should be: (3840×160 x 4 x 2) + (3840 x 2160 x 4 x 2) = ~115MB
  2. CTX115637 Citrix Session Graphics Memory Reference describes how multi-monitor resolution is determined.  💡
  3. Open the registry (regedit) and navigate to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\vd3d
  4. Increase the value of “MaxVideoMemoryBytes” REG_DWORD value to the above calculated memory.
  5. Reboot the VDA

From Citrix Discussions: To exclude applications from Citrix 3D rendering, create a REG_DWORD registry value “app.exe” with value 0 or a registry value “*” with value 0.

  • XD 7.1 and XD 7.5:
    • x86: reg add hklm\software\citrix\vd3d\compatibility /v * /t REG_DWORD /f /d 0
    • x64: reg add hklm\software\Wow6432Node\citrix\vd3d\compatibility /v * /t REG_DWORD /f /d 0
  • XD 7.6/7.7/7.8/7.9 both x86 and x64:
    • reg add hklm\software\citrix\vd3d\compatibility /v * /t REG_DWORD /f /d 0

Wildcards are not supported. The asterisk * here has a special meaning “all apps” but is not a traditional wildcard. To blacklist multiple apps e.g. both appa.exe and appb.exe must be done by creating a registry value for each app individually.

This is most problematic in Remote PC since most physical PCs have GPUs. I recently had to blacklist Internet Explorer to prevent lockup issues when switching back to physical.

Uninstall VDA

Uninstall the VDA from Programs and Features.

Then see CTX209255 VDA Cleanup Utility.

Related Pages

Delivery Controller 7.9 and Licensing

Last Modified: May 19, 2020 @ 8:07 am

38 Comments

Navigation

Upgrade

If you are performing a new install of XenApp/XenDesktop Controller, then skip to the next section.

You can upgrade directly from any Controller version 5.6 or newer.

Before upgrading, if you have a standalone Citrix Licensing Server, upgrade it to 11.13.1.2 build 16002.

During the upgrade of Delivery Controller, be aware that a database upgrade is required. Either get a DBA to grant you temporary sysadmin permission, or use Citrix Studio to generate SQL scripts that a DBA must then run in SQL Studio.

  1. If StoreFront is installed on the Controller, and if the Citrix SCOM Agent for StoreFront is installed, stop the Citrix MPSF Agent service.
  2. Run AutoSelect.exe from the XenApp/XenDesktop 7.9 ISO (XenApp Enterprise, XenApp Platinum, XenDesktop Enterprise, or XenDesktop Platinum, depending on your license).
  3. Click Studio and Server Components.
  4. In the Licensing Agreementpage, select I have read, understand, and accept the terms and click Next.
  5. In the Ensure Successful Upgrade page, read the steps, check the box next to I’m ready to continue, and click Next.
  6. In the Firewall page, click Next.
  7. In the Summary page, click Upgrade.
  8. Click Close if prompted to restart.
  9. In the Call Home page, make a selection. If participating, click Connect, login, and then click Next.
  10. In the Finish page, click Finish.
  11. After Citrix Studio launches, if you have sysadmin permissions on SQL then click Start the automatic Site upgrade. If you don’t have full permission, then get a DBA to help you, click Manually upgrade this site, and follow the instructions.
  12. When you upgrade the remaining Controllers, you might have to Register Controllers.
  13. After all Controllers and VDAs are upgraded, right-click the Catalogs and click Upgrade Catalog.

  14. Then do the same for the Delivery Groups.

Other XenApp/XenDesktop components can also be in-place upgraded:

  • StoreFront
  • Director
  • VDAs
  • AppDNA
  • Provisioning Services
  • SCOM Management Packs
  • Session Recording

New Install Preparation

Citrix Licensing – If you are going to use an existing Citrix Licensing Server, upgrade it to 11.13.1.2 build 16002.

Upgrade

If you are upgrading from and older Delivery Controller, be aware that a database upgrade is required. You’ll need sysadmin permissions on SQL to complete the upgrade.

SQL Databases

  • Citrix CTX209080 Database Sizing Tool for XenDesktop 7  💡
  • Citrix article CTX114501 – Supported Databases for Citrix Products
  • There are typically three databases: one for the Site (aka farm), one for Logging (audit log) and one for Monitoring (Director).
    • The monitoring database name must not have any spaces in it. See CTX200325 Database Naming Limitation when Citrix Director Accesses Monitoring Data Using OData APIs
    • If you want Citrix Studio to create the SQL databases automatically, then the person running Studio must be a sysadmin on the SQL instances. No lesser role will work. sysadmin permissions can be granted temporarily and revoked after installation.
    • As an alternative, you can use Citrix Studio to create SQL scripts and then run those scripts on the SQL server. In that case, the person running the scripts only needs the dbcreator and securityadmin roles.
    • It is possible to create the databases in advance. However, you must use the non-default Latin1_General_100_CI_AS_KS collation. Then use Citrix Studio to configure the database tables.
  • If SQL 2016 or newer, implement Basic Availability Group.
  • If SQL 2014 or older, Citrix recommends SQL Mirroring because it has the fastest failover.
    • SQL Mirroring requires two SQL Standard Edition servers and one SQL Express for the witness server.
    • You can setup SQL Mirroring either before installing XenDesktop or after installing XenDesktop. If after, then see Citrix CTX140319 to manually change XenDesktop’s database connection strings How to Migrate XenDesktop Database to New SQL Server.
    • To setup SQL Mirroring, see Rob Cartwright: Configure SQL Mirroring For Use With XenDesktop, XenApp, and PVS Databases.
    • If you try to stretch the mirror across datacenters, the SQL witness must be placed in a third datacenter that has connectivity to the other two datacenters. However, stretching a single XenApp/XenDesktop site/farm and corresponding SQL mirror across datacenters is not recommended.
  • AlwaysOn Availability Groups and SQL Clustering are also supported. However, these features require the much more expensive SQL Enterprise Edition.

Windows Features

  • Installing Group Policy Management on the Delivery Controller lets you edit GPOs and have access to the Citrix Policies node in the GPO Editor. Or you can install Studio on a different machine that has GPMC installed.
  • vSphere Web Client – if you will connect to vSphere Web Client from the Controller machine, Flash Player is only available for IE if you install the Desktop Experience feature. Or you can use Google Chrome.

vSphere

  • Create a role in vSphere Client. Assign a service account to the role at the Datacenter or higher level.

Delivery Controller Install

  1. A typical size for the Controller VMs is 2-4 vCPU and 8 GB of RAM.
  2. Make sure the User Right Log on as a service includes NT SERVICE\ALL SERVICES or add NT SERVICE\CitrixTelemetryService to the User Right.
  3. On two Delivery Controllers, install the Delivery Controller software from the XenApp/XenDesktop 7.9 media. Download it from XenApp Enterprise, XenApp Platinum, XenDesktop Enterprise, or XenDesktop Platinum, depending on your license. Go to the downloaded XenDesktop 7.9 ISO and run AutoSelect.exe.
  4. Click Start next to either XenApp or XenDesktop. The only difference is the product name displayed in the installation wizard.
  5. On the left, click Delivery Controller.
  6. You can install all components on one server or on separate servers. Splitting them out is only necessary in large environments or if you want to share the components (e.g. Licensing, StoreFront, Director) across multiple farms.
  7. In the Features page, uncheck the box next to Install Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express and click Next.
  8. In the Summary page, click Install.
  9. In the Call Home page, make a selection, click Connect, enter your MyCitrix credentials, and then click Next.
  10. In the Finish page, click Finish. Studio will automatically launch.
  11. Ensure the two Controller VMs do not run on the same hypervisor host. Create an anti-affinity rule.

Create Site

There are several methods of creating the databases for XenApp/XenDesktop:

  • If you have sysadmin permissions to SQL, let Citrix Studio create the databases automatically.
  • If you don’t have sysadmin permissions to SQL then use Citrix Studio to generate SQL scripts and send them to a DBA.

Database Mirroring

If you are not using database mirroring then skip to the next section.

You can setup SQL Mirroring either before configuring XenDesktop or after configuring XenDesktop.

  • If before, then the empty databases (Site, Logging, Monitoring) must use the Latin1_General_100_CI_AS_KS collation, which is not the default.
  • If SQL Mirroring is already setup then XenDesktop will detect it and set the database connection strings accordingly. Or you can manually change the database connection strings later as detailed at Citrix CTX140319 How to Migrate XenDesktop Database to New SQL Server.
  • If you use Citrix Studio to create SQL scripts that populate the databases, then there will be separate SQL scripts for the Primary and Partner.

To verify mirroring after the XenDesktop configuration has completed, run the PowerShell cmdlet get-brokerdbconnection and ensure that the Failover Partner has been set in the connection string to the mirror.

Use Studio to Create Database Scripts

  1. Launch Citrix Studio. After it loads, click Deliver applications and desktops to your users.
  2. In the Introduction page, select An empty, unconfigured site. This reduces the number of pages in this Setup wizard. The other pages will be configured later.
  3. Enter a Site Name (aka farm name) and click Next. Only administrators see the farm name.
  4. In the Databases page, change the selection to Generate scripts to manually set up databases on the database server.
  5. Change the database names if desired.
  6. If you are building two Controllers, click Select near the bottom of the same page.
  7. Click Add.
  8. Enter the FQDN of the second Controller and click OK. Note: the Delivery Controller software must already be installed on that machine.
  9. Then click Save.
  10. If you hover your mouse over 2 selected, it will show both Controllers. Click Next.
  11. In the Additional Features page, click Next.
  12. In the Summary page, click Generate scripts.
  13. A folder will open with six scripts. Edit each of the scripts.
  14. Near the top of each script are two lines to create the database. Uncomment both lines (including the go line). Then save and close the file.

  15. Once all of the scripts are edited you can send them to your DBA.
  16. On the Principal SQL Server, open the file Site_Principal.sql.

  17. Open the Query menu and click SQLCMD Mode.
  18. Then execute the script.
  19. If SQLCMD mode was enabled properly then the output should look something like this:
  20. If you have a mirrored database, run the second script on the mirror SQL instance. Make sure SQLCMD mode is enabled.


  21. Repeat for the Logging_Pricipal.sql script.
  22. You’ll have to enable SQLCMD Mode for each script you open.


  23. Repeat for the Monitoring_Principal.sql script.
  24. Once again enable SQLCMD Mode.


  25. The person running Citrix Studio must be added to the SQL Server as a SQL Login and granted the public server role.

  26. Back in Citrix Studio, click the Continue database configuration and Site setup button.
  27. In the Database page, enter the SQL server name and instance name and click Next.

  28. On the Licensing page, enter the name of the Citrix License Server and click Connect. . If you installed Licensing with your Delivery Controller, then simply enter localhost.
  29. XenApp/XenDesktop 7.9 requires the newest Licensing Server. If your server isn’t compatible, leave it set to localhost and fix it later.
  30. If the Certificate Authentication appears, select Connect me and click Confirm.
  31. Then select your license and click Next.
  32. In the Additional Features page, click Next.
  33. In the Summary page, make your selection for Customer Experience Improvement Program and click Finish.
  34. It will take some time for the site to be created.

Verify Database Mirroring

If your database is mirrored, when you run get-brokerdbconnection, you’ll see the Failover Partner in the database connection string.

Second Controller

When building the first Delivery Controller the scripts might have already included the second Delivery Controller. Thus no special SQL permissions are needed. If the second Delivery Controller has not already been added to the SQL databases then there are several methods of adding a second Controller to the databases for XenApp/XenDesktop:

  • If you have sysadmin permissions to SQL, let Citrix Studio modify the databases automatically.
  • If you don’t have sysadmin permissions to SQL then do use Citrix Studio to generate SQL scripts and send them to a DBA.

To use Citrix Studio to create the SQL Scripts:

  1. On the first Delivery Controller, if StoreFront is installed, delete the default StoreFront store (/Citrix/Store) and recreate it with your desired Store name (e.g. /Citrix/CompanyStore).
  2. On the 2nd Delivery Controller, install XenDesktop as detailed earlier.
  3. After running Studio, click Connect this Delivery Controller to an existing Site.
  4. Enter the name of the first Delivery Controller and click OK.
  5. If you don’t have elevated SQL permissions, click No when asked if you want to update the database automatically.
  6. Click Generate scripts.
  7. A folder will open with six scripts. If not mirroring, then the top three scripts need to be sent to a DBA. If mirroring, send all six.
  8. On the SQL Server, open open one of the .sql files.

  9. Open the Query menu and click SQLCMD Mode.
  10. Then execute the XenDesktop script.
  11. If SQLCMD mode was enabled properly then the output should look something like this:
  12. Back in Citrix Studio, click OK.
  13. In the Studio, under Configuration > Controllers, you should see both controllers.
  14. You can also test the site again if desired.

Studio – Slow Launch

From B.J.M. Groenhout at Citrix Discussions: The following adjustments can be made if Desktop Studio (and other Citrix management Consoles) will start slowly:

  • Within Internet Explorer, go to Tools – Internet Options – Tab Advanced – Section Security and uncheck the option Check for publisher’s certificate revocation

After adjustment Desktop Studio (MMC) will be started immediately. Without adjustment it may take some time before Desktop Studio (MMC) is started.

Registry setting (can be deployed using Group Policy Preferences):

  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WinTrust\Trust Providers\Software Publishing
    • “State“=dword:00023e00

Database Maintenance

View Logging Database

To view the contents of the Logging Database, in Studio, click the Logging node. On the right is Create Custom Report. See Citrix article CTX138132 Viewing Configuration Logging Data Not Shown for more info.

Enable Read-Committed Snapshot

The XenDesktop Database can become heavily utilized under load in a large environment. Therefore Citrix recommends enabling the Read_Committed_Snapshot option on the XenDesktop databases to remove contention on the database from read queries. This can improve the interactivity of Studio and Director. It should be noted that this option may increase the load on the tempdb files. See Citrix article CTX137161 How to Enable Read-Committed Snapshot in XenDesktop for configuration instructions.

Change Database Connection Strings

Sometimes the database connection strings need to be modified:

  • When moving the SQL databases to a different SQL server
  • When enabling mirroring after the databases have already been configured in Studio.

CTX140319 How to Migrate XenDesktop Database to New SQL Server has the correctly ordered list of PowerShell commands to change the database connection strings. Make sure PowerShell is running as administrator before running these commands.

XenApp/XenDesktop 7.8 adds set-applibdbconnection so make sure the commands include setting that DB connection too.

Director Grooming

If XenDesktop is not Platinum Edition then all historical Director data is groomed at 7 days.

For XenDesktop/XenApp Platinum Edition, by default, most of the historical Director data is groomed at 90 days. This can be adjusted up to 367 days by running a PowerShell cmdlet.

  1. On a Delivery Controller, run PowerShell and run asnp Citrix.*

  2. Run Get-MonitorConfiguration to see the current grooming settings.
  3. Run Set-MonitorConfiguration to change the grooming settings.

Studio Administrators

Full Administrators

  1. In the Studio, under Configuration, click the Administrators node. The first time you access the node you’ll see a Welcome page. Feel free to check the box and then click Close.
  2. On the Administrators tab, right-click and click Create Administrator.
  3. In the Administrator and Scope page, specify a group (e.g. Citrix Admins or Help Desk) that will have permissions to Studio and Director. Click Next.
  4. On the Role page, select a role and then click Next. For example:
    • Full Administrator for the Citrix Admins group
    • Help Desk Administrator for the Help Desk group
    • Machine Catalog Administrator for the desktop team
  5. In the Summary page, click Finish.

Help Desk

  1. In the Studio, under Configuration, click the Administrators node. On the Administrators tab, right-click and click Create Administrator.
  2. In the Administrator and Scope page, specify a Help Desk group that will have permissions to Studio and Director. Click Next.
  3. On the Role page, select the Help Desk Administrator role and then click Next.
  4. In the Summary page, click Finish.
  5. When administrators in the Help Desk role log into Director, all they see is this.

    To jazz it up a little, add the Help Desk group to the read-only role.
  6. Right-click the Help Desk Administrator and click Edit Administrator.
  7. Click Add.
  8. In the Scope page, select a scope and click Next.
  9. In the Role page, select Read Only Administrator and click Next.
  10. In the Summary page, click Finish.
  11. Then click OK. Now Director will display the dashboard.

Provisioning Services w/Personal vDisk

From Considerations: Provisioning Services at Configure and manage Personal vDisk at docs.citrix.com: The Provisioning Services Soap Service account must be added to the Administrator node of Studio and must have the Machine Administrator or higher role. This ensures that the PvD desktops are put into the Preparing state when the Provisioning Services (PVS) vDisk is promoted to production.

Customer Experience Improvement Program

XenApp/XenDesktop 7.9 enables CEIP by default. If desired, you can disable it in Citrix Studio:

  1. On the left, go to the Configuration node.
  2. On the right, switch to the Product Support tab.
  3. Click End.
  4. Click Yes.

vCenter Connection

XenDesktop uses an Active Directory service account to log into vCenter. This account needs specific permissions in vCenter. To facilitate assigning these permissions, create a new vCenter role and assign it to the XenDesktop service account. The permissions should be applied at the datacenter or higher level. CTX214389 How to Define VMware vSphere User Privileges for XenApp and XenDesktop defines the minimum permissions needed for various activities in XenDesktop: MCS, PvS, Power Management, and AppDisks.

AppDisks requires an additional permission: Virtual Machine > Configuration > Modify Device Settings.

Hosting Resources

A Hosting Resource = vCenter + Cluster (Resource Pool) + Storage + Network. When you create a machine catalog, you select a previously defined Hosting Resource, and the Cluster, Storage, and Network defined in the Hosting Resource object are automatically selected. If you need some desktops on a different Cluster+Storage+Network then you’ll need to define more Hosting Resources in Studio.

  1. In Studio, expand Configuration and click Hosting. Right-click it and click Add Connection and Resources.
  2. In the Connection page, select VMware vSphere as the Connection type.
  3. Enter https://vcenter01.corp.local/sdk as the vCenter URL. The URL must contain the FQDN of the vCenter server. Ensure the entered URL has /sdk on the end.
  4. Enter credentials of a service account that can log into vCenter.
  5. In the Connection name field, give the connection a name. Typically, this matches the name of the vCenter server.
  6. If you are not using Machine Creation Services and instead only need the vCenter connection for machine power management, change the Create virtual machines using selection to Other Tools.
  7. Click Next.
  8. If you see a message about the vCenter certificate, check the box next to Trust certificate and click OK.
  9. In the Storage Management page, click Browse and select a vSphere cluster.
  10. Select Use storage shared by hypervisors.
  11. If you have sufficient disk space on each ESXi host, also select Optimize temporary data on available local storage. From Mark Syms at discussions.citrix.com: “If you use just MCS caching to local storage then the VM is not agile at all and cannot be moved even when powered off as it has a virtual disk permanently associated with a single host.”  💡
  12. From Martin Rowan at discussions.citrix.com: for the temporary cache disk, “Don’t format it, the raw disk is what MCS caching uses.”
  13. Click Next.
  14. In the Storage Selection page, OS and Personal vDisk must be selected on at least one datastore. For maximum flexibility, only select one datastores. To select additional datastores, run this wizard again to create a separate Hosting Resource.
  15. If you selected the local storage option, on the bottom, click Select and choose the datastores you want to use for disk caching. By default, all local datastores are selected. Click Next when done.
  16. In the Network page, enter a name for the hosting resource. Since each hosting resource is a combination of vCenter, Cluster, Network, and Datastores, include those names in this field (e.g. vCenter01-Cluster01-Network01-Datastore01).
  17. Select a network and click Next.
  18. In the Summary page, click Finish.
  19. If you have multiple datastores for your VDAs, run the wizard again.
  20. You can use the existing vCenter connection.
  21. This time, select a different datastore.
  22. Give it a name that indicates the chosen datastore.
  23. When you create a Catalog, select the Hosting Resource for the datastore where you want the VDAs to be placed. Create additional Catalogs for each datastore. You can then combine the Catalogs into a single Delivery Group.
  24. Later in the Catalog wizard, you’re given an option to enable caching and select a cache size. This is similar to Provisioning Services Cache in RAM with overflow to disk.

Citrix Licensing Server

Upgrade

XenApp/XenDesktop 7.9 comes with 11.13.1.2.

If you have a standalone Licensing Server, upgrade it to Citrix Licensing to 11.13.1.2 if it isn’t already.

  1. Go to the downloaded Citrix Licensing 11.13.1.2 build 16002 and run CitrixLicensing.exe.
  2. Click Upgrade.
  3. Click Finish.
  4. If you go to Programs and Features, it should now show version 11.1.0.16002.
  5. If you login to the license server web console, on the Administration tab, it shows it as version 11.13.1 build 16002.
  6. You can also view the version in the registry at HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Citrix\LicenseServer\Install.

Licensing Server HA using GSLB

From Dane Young – Creating a Bulletproof Citrix Licensing Server Infrastructure using NetScaler Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) and CtxLicChk.ps1 PowerShell Scripts. Here is a summary of the configuration steps. See the blog post for detailed configuration instructions.

  1. Build two License Servers in each datacenter with identical server names. Since server names are identical, they can’t be domain-joined.
  2. Install identical licenses on all License Servers.
  3. Set the DisableStrictNameChecking registry key on all Citrix Licensing servers.
  4. Synchronize the certificate files located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\Licensing\WebServicesForLicensing\Apache\conf. They must be identical on all Licensing Servers.
  5. Download CtxLicChk.exe from http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX123935 and place on all Licensing Servers.
  6. Schedule the PowerShell script CtxLicChk.ps1 on all Licensing Servers. Get this script from the blog post linked above.
  7. Configure NetScaler:
    1. Configure GSLB ADNS services.
    2. Add wildcard Load Balancing service for each Citrix Licensing Server.
    3. Configure service TCP monitoring for ports 27000, 7279, 8082, and 8083.
    4. Create Load Balancing Virtual Server for each Licensing Server.
    5. Set one Load Balancing Virtual Server as backup for the other.
    6. Repeat in second datacenter.
    7. Configure GSLB Services and GSLB Monitoring.
    8. Configure GSLB Virtual Servers. Set one GSLB Virtual Server as backup for the other.
  8. Delegate the Citrix Licensing DNS name to the ADNS services on the NetScaler appliances.
  9. Configure Citrix Studio to point to the GSLB-enabled DNS name for Citrix Licensing.

Citrix License Server Monitoring

Citrix Licensing 11.13.1 and newer has historical usage reporting:

  1. Run Citrix Licensing Manager from the Start Menu. Or use a browser to connect to https://MyLicenseServer:8083
  2. Use the drop-down menus to select a license type, select dates, and export to a .csv file.
  3. On the top right is a gear icon where you can set the historical retention period.

http://www.jonathanmedd.net/2011/01/monitor-citrix-license-usage-with-powershell.html.

Lal Mohan – Citrix License Usage Monitoring Using Powershell

Jaroslaw Sobel – Monitoring Citrix Licenses usage – Graphs using WMI, Powershell and RRDtool. This script generates a graph similar to the following:

CtxLicUsage-1d_

Remote Desktop Licensing Server

Install Remote Desktop Licensing Server

Do the following on your XenDesktop Controllers:

  1. In Server Manager, open the Manage menu and click Add Roles and Features.
  2. Click Next until you get to the Server Roles page. Check the box next to Remote Desktop Services and click Next.
  3. Click Next until you get to the Role Services page. Check the box next to Remote Desktop Licensing and click Next.
  4. Click Add Features if prompted.
  5. Then finish the wizard to install the role service.

Activate Remote Desktop Licensing

  1. After RD Licensing is installed, in Server Manager, open the Tool menu, expand Terminal Services and click Remote Desktop Licensing Manager.
  2. The tool should find the local server. If it does not, right-click All servers, click Connect and type in the name of the local server. Once the local server can be seen in the list, right-click the server and click Activate Server.
  3. In the Welcome to the Activate Server Wizard page, click Next.
  4. In the Connection Method page, click Next.
  5. In the Company Information page, enter the required information and click Next.
  6. All of the fields on the Company Information page are optional so you do not have to enter anything. Click Next.
  7. In the Completing the Activate Server Wizard page, uncheck the box next to Start Install Licenses Wizard now and click Finish. Since the session hosts will be configured to pull Per User licenses, there is no need to install licenses on the RD Licensing Server.
  8. In RD Licensing Manager, right-click the server and click Review Configuration.
  9. Ensure you have green check marks. If the person installing Remote Desktop Licensing does not have permissions to add the server to the Terminal Server License Servers group in Active Directory, ask a domain admin to do it manually. If you have the proper permissions, click Add to Group.
  10. Click Continue when prompted that you must have Domain Admins privileges.
  11. Click OK when prompted that the computer account has been added.
  12. Click OK to close the window.

Health Check

Sacha Tomet Finally 1.0 – but never finalized!: XenApp & XenDesktop 7.x Health Check script has now Version 1.0.

Andrew Morgan – New Free Tool: Citrix Director Notification Service: The Citrix Director Notification service sits on an edge server as a service (or local to the delivery controller) and periodically checks the health of:

  • Citrix Licensing.
  • Database Connections.
  • Broker Service.
  • Core Services.
  • Hypervisor Connections.

And if any of these items fall out of bounds, an SMTP alert is sent to the mailbox of your choice for action. The tool will also send “All Clear” emails when these items are resolved, ensuring you are aware when the service has resumed a healthy state.

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